A Second Chance
by BobFlimmer
Summary: Aizen wins the war and Orihime is consumed in the creation of the King's Key. She wakes up to find she was saved by her Shun Shun Rikka and she's back in Las Noches but the situation isn't the same as she remembers... No, she's the leader of the Arrancar
1. Prologue

Prologue- Regrets of the Innocent

Ichigo's eyes were dull and lifeless as Orihime held his head in her lap. They had lost. Aizen had won. Ichigo had been the last to fall of all the Shinigami but in the end Aizen had proven to be too powerful for him to defeat. Orihime had long since lost her voice from screaming as each of her friends bodies fell from the sky so now, while she held the boy she had always loved in her arms, she could only quietly sob. She would have rather died then what she had just gone through. When she had first arrived from Hueco Mundo with Ichigo, she had helped Unohana heal the fallen but after awhile there were to many. They had to began what Unohana called triage, they had to pick who lived and who died. This had ripped Orihime's heart out, after all the training she had gone through and after all her time spent in Hueco Mundo to protect her friends, she was again useless and unable to help them. One by one she watched her friends die as Unohana told her to only heal the strongest or Aizen would win. First it had been Chad and Uryuu then Matsumoto and Renji. Eventually Orihime had exhausted her powers and Unohana had to leave to fight so everyone was left to die in there own puddles of blood, alone. Despite all of this, Orihime had not given up.

_As long as Kurosaki-kun is alive then we will win. He won't lose, he can't lose. _

Needless to say when the inevitable defeat came, Orihime's spirit had been completely broken.

"You should smile, Inoue. No one is happy when the sun isn't shining."

Orihime didn't bother looking up from cradling Ichigo's body. She knew who it was,

_Who else could it be? _

When he received no response, Aizen sighed,

"I had hoped perhaps you could play a major role in the new world I have envisioned. You are a pure being and could have been so much more but your nothing but a hollow shell now. I will go and I will sit on the thrown in heaven, my rightful place. Do not worry Inoue, when I make the King's Key and destroy this town, you will feel no pain."

He turned and walked away leaving the broken girl alone. Her silent tears fell from her face onto Ichigo's as she awaited her demise.

_This is it. I'm going to die. There so many things I had still wanted to do in my life. Like be a baker and giveaway my cakes to the little children who don't have money for sweets or fly in space and discover a new life form or... _

She couldn't keep a small smile off of her face as she thought of all the things she had for her future but it quickly turned into a frown followed by mores tears.

_Or have my first kiss, or have a family, or grow old with Kurosaki-kun... And now I won't be able to do that. All those years of being so shy… maybe I should have been more bold… maybe I should have told him how I felt… _

She sighed, "I guess it doesn't matter now though."

All of the sudden she could see a blinding light descend from the clouds and a powerful force all around her. Most people would think it was God or the Second Coming but Orihime knew better. It was the first step in the creation of the King's Key, the beginning of the end. She made no move to run away but instead laid down by Ichigo and buried her face into his chest, clinging onto him with all her strength.

"I'm sorry Ichigo… I'm sorry I couldn't have helped. Sorry I didn't tell you how I felt… I love you Ichigo, I always have… If I had a second chance, I would tell you everything and I would help you, no matter what the cost… I'm sorry…"

Her sobs made her speech almost indecipherable but it wasn't like anyone was listening anyways. She thought for amount, as she felt the powerful force start to grow closer, that she felt Ichigo's limp arms, that had been dangling lifelessly around her back, tighten around her. In that moment she felt comforted, safe and happy, even if he was just imagining it. It didn't really matter, in a few moments they would be gone anyways so she just thought of the happy times she had had with Ichigo. A tragic love story that would never be told, where Evil triumphed over Good, where there were no second chances, and where, in the end, nothing else mattered to her but the fallen boy hero who's arms she was in . Unknown to Orihime, just before the blinding light engulfed them her Shun Shun Rikka started to react violently of their own accord and shot off in different directions releasing unprecedented powers. Then the light took over and Ichigo and Orihime were consumed, never to be in existence again.

* * *

I know it's short but it's just the Prologue so you can get a feel for the story. I want to know what you all think so **REVIEW!!!!!! **Tell me if you like it or if it's stupid or if I should stop writing… lol **ANYTHING!!!! JUST REVIEW SO I KNOW WHAT Y'ALL THINK!!!!!!!**

**Thanks for Reading**

**PeAcE OuT**


	2. Overwhelming Confusion

Well here it goes, the first chapter of the story so hope you all enjoy it as much as I did writing it!

Oh, and I would like to thank the person who Reviewed the prologue and the person who already added this story to their favorites. THANK YOU!!!! I hope the story lives up to your expectations!! Lol

**Enjoy and Review!! **

* * *

Chapter 1- Overwhelming Confusion

Once she was obliterated by Aizen and died, Orihime decided that death wasn't so bad. Sure it was complete darkness but it wasn't cold or lonely like she had originally thought, quite the opposite. It was really warm and comfortable, much like her bed was in her apartment , and for some reason she felt completely relaxed and safe.

_I think I like being dead… Did I really just think that? I wonder if Kurosaki-kun is as happy as I am in death. It feels so… normal._

She decided not to put more thought into it, after all she didn't want to ruin the feeling by thinking to much. For a moment she thought she was going to become completely consumed by this feeling until she heard a noise. A loud, annoying beeping noise.

_Go away. I like where I'm at. I don't want to leave this place! Ugh! _

Suddenly Orihime felt her eyes start to open.

_Have they been closed this whole time? _

Slowly her blurry vision began to clear and what she saw was a little too nostalgic to her liking. Huge ceiling, white floors, and a window that shows a sky with a lone reverse crescent moon?

_Las Noches? Was all of that a dream? Am I still being held prisoner and Kurosaki-kun hasn't even came here yet? _

She absentmindedly rubbed her head,

_My head hurts… to much thinking. _

She slowly sat up and noticed that although this was indeed Las Noches, this was not her old room. This room had decorations and colors, unlike the old room where it was completely white. She rose to her feet to find that this room was full of normal household items, along with them a nightstand with the alarm clock that was still obnoxiously beeping. Orihime reached over and turned it off then walked over to the dresser and opened it. She was surprised to see different clothes other than her normal white Espada dress she had been issued when she first arrived to Las Noches.

"These are all my normal clothes and all these things in this room used to be in my apartment. What is going on?"

Despite the new attire, she instinctively put on her Espada dress and looked around the rest of the room. It had a kitchen, equipped with her favorite foods, a master bathroom, living space with couch and television, and a small personal study with a few bookshelves and a desk.

_I may still be in Las Noches but at least I have a awesome room… _

Then it hit her, Ichigo.

"Oh my God! Where's Ichigo!? If I'm alive does that mean he's alive or anybody else is?"

During this sudden realization she didn't notice her door open or the person sneaking up behind her.

"Maybe Aizen took me before the blast hit or…"

"Your late for the meeting Inoue-sama."

"AHHHH!!!!!!!"

Orihime whipped around and fell backwards onto the floor from the unexpected presence. Halibel was apparently used to these type of antics and just continued forward into the kitchen.

"It started 5 minutes ago and from the looks of it you haven't even eaten yet."

Her voice held it's normal seriousness but she was smiling. Orihime was still in a state of shock. Halibel came out of the kitchen with 2 pieces of toast topped with bean paste.

"Here"

She offered the food to the stunned girl who just stared blankly at her. Now Halibel was somewhat worried. She knew that Orihime would space out more often than most but this was starting to get ridicules.

"Inoue-sama, is there something wrong?"

Halibel was taken by surprise when Orihime got to her feet and touched the Espada's face. "Where's your mask? I thought you had a mask covering your mouth?"

It was true, Orihime hadn't noticed it at first but the third Espada didn't have the usual mask covering her face. Halibel sat the toast aside for the moment to try to figure out what was happening.

"Inoue-sama you…"

She was cut off by Orihime,

"And why do you keep calling me Inoue-sama? I'm not your superior, I'm your prisoner. What is going on? Did Aizen kill my friends? I'm I just dead and went to Hell… or perhaps Heaven? It's not like this is all that bad… I guess."

She didn't notice that she was verbally voicing her thoughts. Halibel was now the one with the shocked face,

_She thinks that she's dead and that she's my prisoner? What have I done to make Inoue-sama think that?_

"Do you think maybe that when you soul get's destroyed you continue living in your memories? Maybe this is just my memories jumbled together. Your supposed to be Sora getting my toast and this is suppose to be my apartment but instead it's Las Noches."

Orihime's eyes were glassed over as she was in another state of mind, completely isolated from the world around her.

"Inoue-sama please, you are not dead and you are not my prisoner. You are our creator, Inoue-sama. Without you we would still be mindless Hollow."

Orihime stared at her intensely, then started to laugh.

"I'm your creator? This must be a dream!"

Very few things can make the stoic Tia Halibel speechless but this was definitely one of them.

"Do you have no memories of coming to Las Noches and creating us? Here, why don't we just go to the meeting and I'll prove to you that you are not my prisoner."

Orihime gave here a scared look,

"A meeting? Like an Espada meeting?"

Halibel noticed the twinge of fear in her voice,

"Your our creator Inoue-sama, why would we want to harm you. We serve you and you are a kind creator. We would die for you, there is no reason to be scared of us. Perhaps I should call Szayel to take a look at you…"

Halibel now knew 100% something was terribly wrong because at the mention of Szayel, Orihime grew pale and knelt down in an obedient stance, much like a lowly servant would and said with a pleading voice,

"Please no, I-I'll g-go to the meeting. P-Please don't call him. I'm sorry Halibel-sama, I shouldn't have question your authority."

Halibel's eyes widened in shock.

_This is not Inoue-sama. She would never be so meek or submissive. Something is wrong with her. _

Halibel grabbed her by the shoulder and gently pulled her to her feet.

"Don't worry I won't call him but let's just go to the meeting. Maybe you'll see something that'll make you remember."

Orihime, still trapped in her old submissive state of mind, just obediently nodded and followed the Espada out of the room. Halibel looked back at how she stayed a few feet behind her much like a fraccion or servant would.

_What has happened to you, Inoue-sama?_

* * *

They reached the large double doors and Halibel pushed one open, holding it so Orihime could pass through first. She was extremely scared as she saw the large table holding the Espada, she was after all never allowed to come to the meetings before this so she was understandably nervous. She thought it was odd that none of the traitorous shinigami were present, Aizen in particular, but maybe he wasn't at every meeting, maybe he allowed them to talk alone. Halibel lead her toward the table and Orihime noticed how all the Espada turned their attention to her.

_This is bad, I shouldn't be here… _

If she thought she was nervous before now she was outright sick from the anxiety as Halibel told her that she sat at the head of the table.

"M-me? Why am I sitting here? Isn't this were the Aizen or whoever is in charge of the meetings sits?"

Every one of the Espada turned their head to the girl with looks confusion, even Stark lifted his sleepy head at the question.

"Oh, and who is this 'Aizen' that you speak of be, Inoue-sama?"

Orihime almost fainted at the sight of the speaker. It was none other then her former captor, Ulquiorra Schiffer.

"I-I… I thought you were dead."

Her voice was full of emotion, joy, sorrow, and fear. Everyone looked at Ulquiorra who for once was at a loss for words and looked as confused as they were. Orihime stood up and angrily yelled,

"I saw you die! I know you died! And don't ask me who Aizen is, after all that he has done to everyone, including you all."

She started to tear up,

"I don't know what's going on… Where's Kurosaki-kun? Why isn't he here?"

Nel stood up and walked over to their leader.

"Orihime-sama, what's wrong? What do you mean you 'don't know what's going on?'"

Halibel sighed, "She's been acting like this since I found her this morning."

Zommari got to his feet quickly, "Has someone done something to Inoue-sama?! This is unacceptable!"

"Quiet down we don't know what's even wrong with her. I think it would be best if we took her down to my labs…"

"Don't mention your labs, she seems to get even more upset for some reason."

Szayel gave Halibel a questionably look but didn't comment any further. Nel grabbed Orihime's face so that she was looking directly at her and in a very calm and gentle voice started,

"Orihime-sama, listen to me. You are not in any danger and we are not your enemy. You are our creator and we serve you. We have done so for almost 2 years now and this 'Aizen' is not our leader. Ulquiorra is not dead and Ichigo will be back from his mission shortly so don't worry. Your Ok, just calm down."

Orihime hadn't noticed Nel there before that because of the state of disorientation she was in and felt slightly more at ease. Now that she was calm, she noticed that the current Espada before her wasn't the one she remembered. For starters, Nel was there but there were other changes as well. She remembered what Nel had said,

"So Kurosaki-kun is alive?"

Nel smiled, "Yes, he is fine. You sent him out to recruit an Adjuchas with Chad and Uryuu. You don't remember?"

Orihime was now smiling,

_Chad and Uryuu are alive too. _

Still confused about what was happening but seeing that they weren't a threat she relaxed a little.

"Amnesia."

Everyone looked at the pink haired scientist, Grimmjow being the first one to question him,

"What the hell is Amnesia?"

Szayel gave a small chuckle at Grimmjow's ignorance,

"Amnesia is a mental condition that humans get from various types of incidents. Sometimes physical trauma, sometimes mental. It makes them forget their personal memories but usually leaves normal motor skill and common knowledge intact, an example I'm sure she knows how to use her powers and how to cook, but she may not know who we are."

Grimmjow scrunched his face in confusion, "How do you explain how she remembers who some of use are then, like Halibel?"

Szayel sighed in annoyance,

"Amnesia is a truly remarkable affliction, even I don't know how it works completely but I would assume that some of her memories are more affected then others. Some patients even regain their memories with time and informational input of what they're suppose to remember."

Grimmjow grunted in reluctant acceptance of the explanation, Nel looked toward them,

"Well then let's introduce ourselves!"

Orihime looked at all of them in disbelief as they started to stand up one by one.

_Why are they being so respectful toward me? Do they really think I'm their leader? _

"I guess I'll start, Yammy Riyalgo, Nuevo Espada."

The large Arrancar bowed before sitting back down. Orihime watched as the next person stood,

"I am Szayel Aporro Granz, Octava Espada."

It kept going in order like that, Zommari 7th, Grimmjow 6th, Nel 5th, Halibel 4th, and Stark 3rd. Orihime held up here hand after Stark realizing something was mission and Halibel gave her a strange look before saying,

"Is there something you would like to ask Inoue-sama?"

Orihime fidgeted in her seat, "Umm, well I was just wondering what position Ulquiorra is and why there is 2 people missing?"

Halibel opened her mouth but was cut off,

"Oh I'm sorry! And I also was wondering where Barragan, Nnoitra, and that other guy with the tall head are because I know they were part of the Espada."

Halibel quirked an eyebrow and Ulquiorra stood,

"I am the Primera Espada, Ulquiorra Schiffer and the Segunda Espada is Ichigo Kurosaki but as Halibel has already pointed out, he is currently out on a mission to recruit a powerful Adjuchas to complete our ranks. As for your second question, Barragan Luisenbarn was never an Espada. He was the former ruler of Hueco Mundo but after you came here and created us, we were forced to eliminate him. The other two that you speak of, I have no recollection of who they are."

Orihime gave him a look of disbelief before turning to Nel,

"Nel, you know who Nnoitra is right?"

Nel looked to the other Espada for some help before turning back to her,

"Umm, no I'm sorry Orihime-sama I don't know who he is. Where do you know him from?"

Orihime looked around the whole table and for the first time that the Espada appeared to be worried, excluding Ulquiorra who had his normal emotionless mask on. She looked down at her lap and folded her hands together,

_They're worried? About what? Surely not me, right… _

Szayel stood up, "I think it is possible that her mind may have made a fantasy or alternative reality do to the Amnesia. It's possible that her subconscious knows that there are memories missing and tried to internal create new ones to fill the void. This would explain why some of her memories have accurate depictions of us and her friends but are twisted because of the trauma."

Everyone looked at him and Grimmjow was about to yell something at him when it seemed to make sense to him. Orihime looked up,

"An alternative reality? No, I know what happened. How could you think I making this all up? I saw Ulquiorra die and I healed Grimmjow's arm after Tousen cut it off. I know all those things happened!"

She was getting hysterical and was about to start crying when Halibel placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Perhaps you could tell us what all that you do remember and we'll fill in the blanks and weed out the fake memories from the real ones. Does this sound acceptable Inoue-sama?"

Orihime wiped away the tears that had built up in her eyes and nodded unable to talk at the moment. Grimmjow looked down at his left arm as it started tingling and angrily got up and said,

"Alright Inoue-sama, tell me who the fuck is Tousen and where I can find him."

The way he said it made Orihime give a small giggle at his pride being attacked. She looked to the table full of her former superiors and gave a small smile,

"Well it all started when…"

* * *

She had recited all of what had happened to her since gaining her powers all the way to Aizen killing her by creating the King's Key. Halibel had to give a few glares at various Espada when they tried to interrupt her, signaling them to 'wait until she is finished, or I'll throw you through the wall'. When she finally was finished Szayel the first to speak,

"Inoue-sama, I would like to first say that I would never work with this 'Nnoitra' and would never try to harm Nelliel. I admit I am a bit of a 'mad scientist', for lack of a better word, but I would never attack my fellow Espada."

He smirked and looked toward a scowling Nel,

"Besides she is a valuable member of our Espada, even if she is a just child."

Szayel let out the laugh he had been holding in and Grimmjow, Yammy, and even Stark join in. Nel quickly stood up,

"SHE SAID I WAS FORCED INTO THE FORM OF A CHILD!"

They slowly regained their composure, occasionally letting out a lone chuckle.

Ulquiorra sighed, "Perhaps if you didn't always act childish, then Inoue-sama wouldn't regard you as being a child in her subconscious."

Nel looked like she was going to leap across the table to attack the Primera but stayed where she was. Halibel spoke,

"So in your 'memories', the Espada ranks were…"

Orihime noticed that she had intentionally cut her sentence off so she could fill it in,

"Oh, umm, well the 10th was Yammy, 9th the tall headed guy, Szayel was the 8th, the 7th Zommari, Grimmjow, Nnoitra, Ulquiorra, Halibel, Barragan, then Stark."

Ulquiorra gave her a very cold look,

"I was the Cuarto Espada and Stark was the Primera?"

Stark gave a chuckle, "It seems Inoue-sama's subconscious thinks I'm the strongest."

"The fuck is this shit! I'm behind the Barragan and the Nnoitra guy!"

Halibel had to hide a blush, "You thought I was the Tereca?"

Nel practically threw herself beside Orihime,

"I wasn't even an Espada?! Do you really think that badly of me?"

Orihime quickly spoke up, feeling bad at hurting Nel's feelings,

"Oh no, you were the 3rd before Nnoitra and Szayel tried to kill you."

Szayel visibly flinched at the statement. Nel was flabbergasted,

"T-The third! Yes, I knew it! You do think highly of me!"

Ulquiorra sighed and an obvious question,

"I assume that Kurosaki did not make the Espada?"

This earned a grin from Grimmjow and Nel, for two very different reasons.

"Well he isn't an Arrancar, actually now that I think about it how is he an Espada now? I thought it was only for Arrancar?"

Even Ulquiorra gave a dumbfounded expression, as Halibel leaned across the table a little, "Inoue-sama, are you sure he wasn't turned into an Arrancar in your memories?"

Orihime laughed, "Of course not, I mean he has a Hollow in him but he is a shinigami. I think he is technically called a Vizard."

They stared at her in dead silence without saying a word. Orihime started to fidget nervously again,

"What? What's wrong?"

Breaking the silence was the large double doors opening and the her three friends walking in with a large Hollow. She jumped to her feet and was about to run to him when she was frozen to her spot. _That mask…_ His left side of his face was covered by his fearsome Vasto Lorde mask. It wasn't covering the whole left side of his face, just from midway down the jawbone then straight up covering most of his left eye. It did, however, stop after it went up through his hair, a single horn protruding out, and partially wrapped around his ear leaving a open cavity. He waved over to her,

"Hey Inoue, here's the Adjuchas I was talking about and.."

He stopped when he saw her trembling in fear and slowly backing behind Halibel.

"What's wrong?"

Halibel sighed, "You better sit down."

* * *

Well here is my first real chapter of the story and please don't get confused, there is still a bit of explaining to do. I like the direction it's going and there is still a whole lot of twists and turns so be prepared! Oh and if you want a visual of what Ichigo looks like here--- .com/Bleach/352/07/--- If the link doesn't work then got to OneManga dot com/bleach then click on chapter 352 page 7. Lol **Thanks for reading and please Review!!!!**

_**PeAcE OuT**_


	3. A New Life

It's been awhile eh? Yeah I know long update time but hey no worries cause I'm going to make sure to get a chapter out every 2 weeks at least, from here on out.

Thanks for all the reviews and for everyone thinking this is a good twist and original story. At first I thought the reviews saying it was original were mocking me cause of how overly excited they were but after reading a couple of them I realized that it was a good thing lol so thank you reviews are greatly appreciated!!!

Enjoy and remember to **REVIEW!!!! PLZ!!!! Lol**

**NOTE: Also didn't really proofread, just sort of skimmed to look for errors so please tell me if you review if you saw any glaring problems or if you want to be a "Beta Reader" which apparently I found out is code for a proofreader before an author publishes a chapter, thx!**

* * *

Chapter 2- A New Life

"What's going on Halibel?"

Ichigo's voice was filled with killing intent.

"Why is Inoue scared of me?"

Ichigo was in a state between anger and confusion. Inoue had been the one to save him and the rest of the Espada and he had always cherished their friendship but seeing her literally tremble in fear because of him, it made him want to kill someone. When he had first become a Hollow all of his Shinigami friends had abandoned him and even his human friends acted different, all of them except Inoue. He had retained some of his sanity but when he had seen Rukia draw her sword at him, the very person that he had sacrificed his soul to try to save, he decided to abandon all of his friends and everything about his life and go to Hueco Mundo. It was one thing to protect them against others but when he was the object of their fear, after he had defended them to the point that he had turned into this monster, it ate him from the inside out. He had been in Hueco Mundo only a few weeks when he heard a familiar voice call out to him. When he turned and saw Orihime Inoue, he knew that at the very least he had one true friend. She had immediately apologized for taking so long to figure out how to get there and that Urahara had made her a deal.

* * *

_Flashback_

* * *

"Kurosaki-kun, I made a deal with Urahara-san."

Her voice made it sound as if she had sold her soul. Ichigo, only partially his old self, said with disinterest,

"What kind of deal?"

Orihime fidgeted a little before saying,

"He ran some test and found out that my powers can reject the existence of almost anything. He said they were like the powers of a god, or goddess in my case I guess. The deal was if I rejected this terrible invention of his, that he himself couldn't destroy, then it would forever be a part of me because of how powerful it is but that I would be able to…"

She stopped mid-sentence and Ichigo, who temporarily reverted back to his human personality, went to touch her delicate face with his bone-like clawed hands,

"Inoue, what was it and what does it do?"

Without saying a word, Orihime's fairies shot out and encased Ichigo in her golden shield. Ichigo's Hollow instincts took back over and he started to pound on the walls of the shield,

"What the hell is this! Let me out bitch! NOW!!!"

Orihime's face was pure determination and she focused all of her energy as Ichigo started to glow brightly,

"NO! I'm the KING and he's the HORSE! STOP IT!!!"

Then suddenly an eruption of power launched Orihime backwards into the white sand. As the sand settled she blinked,

_Did it work? Is Kurosaki-kun back to normal?_

She went to stand but was launched back to the ground by a powerful reiatsu. She had to close her eyes because of the sand that was pelting her. Then it stopped and then she felt something pick her up. Somewhat scared of what that "something" was she slowly opened her eyes to see Ichigo with a half mask covering the left side of his face but the caring smile that was on his face told Orihime that it had worked despite his appearance and the Hollow hole in his chest. Ichigo didn't say anything as he carried her bridal style to the nearest boulder and sat down out of exhaustion. She just laid in his arms feeling secure and safe before he whispered weakly,

"Thank you, Inoue."

* * *

_End Flashback_

* * *

It was only a few days after that that Uryuu and Chad came and apologized, asking to join him and Inoue in creating a new life. His friends told him of how the Shinigami had initiated an extensive search and destroy mission for Orihime and Ichigo after seeing both of their unique abilities, Orihime's god-like rejection phenomenon and Ichigo's near completely merged Hollow and Shinigami reiatsu. Yamamoto had personally known Urahara and the Vizards and knew that they wouldn't attack the Soul Society but these humans, they were wildcards that had to be destroyed at all cost. Inoue hadn't originally created the Espada to be her personal army, actually it was more of a sympathetic action as is her nature, but that was exactly what they now were. All this is why Ichigo Kurosaki was ready to kill whoever or whatever had made Orihime Inoue, his best friend, perhaps something even more than just a friend, scared to be in his presence.

* * *

"Inoue-sama please there is nothing to be afraid of."

Halibel was attempting to coax Orihime from behind her. Orihime just stayed clutching onto Halibel's jacket like a child. She sighed,

"Inoue-sama this is Ichigo. The person that you've been wanting to see this whole time."

Ichigo slowly walked over toward her, "Inoue, it's me Ichigo. I…"

Orihime jumped from behind Halibel and pointed angrily at him,

"Your NOT Kurosaki-kun! Your that monster that killed Ulquiorra and tried to kill Ishida-kun!"

The room went silent and Ichigo went wide eyed. Orihime couldn't stop the tears,

"I made you into this monster because I was too weak…"

Without realizing what had happened Ichigo was suddenly in front of her pulling her into an embrace. His voice was barely above a whisper,

"Your not weak. You're the one who saved me from an endless hell. Without you I would be nothing."

Her eyes shot open.

_I saved him… _

"You saved all of us from being mindless Hollow."

She looked around at all the Espada who, besides Ulquiorra and Grimmjow, were smiling. Orihime clutched onto Ichigo's uniform making sure he was really there. They stayed that way for a few moments before the silence was interrupted,

"What the fuck is this shit?!? I thought you said you had a powerful leader that could make me stronger, not some weak ass bitch human!"

Orihime hadn't realized it when they had brought him in but now that she heard his voice it was unmistakable.

_N-Nnoitra! _

He laughed at Orihime trembling and looked as if he was about to launch forward at her but he quickly hit the floor in pain when a sea-green blur appeared in front of him and slashed his chest open.

"Bitch! Another fucking woman? What is this shit, you some type of liar Kurosaki? You said that you could make me stronger!"

Ichigo who had yet to turn around from holding Orihime slowly turned,

"Yes, that's right. The only problem is you just insulted the Ruler of Las Noches. If you have a problem with being under her command then leave."

Nnoitra grimaced and Nel smiled,

"Pathetic little Adjuchas like you are a dime a dozen so don't think your something special."

Nnoitra went to jump at Nel but stopped himself,

"Psh, whatever. I'll play your stupid little game but I want what was promised to me."

Orihime looked around as the Espada looked at her expectantly. Ichigo walked back to her,

"Would you be willing to turn him into a Arrancar? He may act like this as a Hollow but I'm sure he'll change, they always do. Not to mention he is pretty powerful."

He didn't really know the extent of whatever was happening to Orihime and thought nothing of it when he asked her to do this. Orihime was starting to become overwhelmed with everything happening around her and ran out of the room leaving the Espada and Nnoitra. He laughed,

"I knew she wasn't a powerful leader, nothing but a nice piece of ass. I would love to make her scream and…"

Before he knew what hit him, Ichigo had kicked him through a wall, surprisingly calm.

"Zommari, keep an eye on the new guy, Yammy find some fraccion to repair that wall and I suppose this meeting is over for now. Let's meet again later when Inoue has had time to uh…"

Szayel filled in, "Recuperate from her Amnesic effects."

Ichigo gave a sideways glance, "She has amnesia? How'd that happen and what exactly is going on."

Szayel sighed, "I'll fill you in but then you have to convince her to come to my labs so I can run some tests to confirm my hypothesis and check for other signs of memory loss."

"Why would I have to convince her?"

Szayel gave out another sigh, "It's a long story."

* * *

Orihime sat on her bed in her room unsure if she was going to cry or jump for joy. On one hand everybody was alive and well and apparently she had made new friends. On the other this wasn't her life, it was Inoue-sama's.

_I can't be a leader, I'm too weak… _

She heard a knock on the door then, "I'm coming in."

She immediately sat up out of an old habit. Ulquiorra walked in and without saying a word sat on the bed next to her. Orihime had never been this close to him, well besides the time she slapped him, and was slightly afraid.

"Why are you fidgeting? Do I frighten you?"

Orihime simply nodded and Ulquiorra sighed and with his normal emotionless voice said,

"Do not let this 'alternate reality' change you. You are a great leader and there is no other being in the three worlds that I believe are strong enough for me to follow."

Orihime lifted her gaze from her hands to his face, "I can't tell what is real and what was just a dream. It's like I lived both lives. It's hard to describe but I know it felt real. Perhaps more real than this world here…"

Her voice trailed off. Ulquiorra stared blankly,

"This 'other' life that you lived was not real and we are your loyal…"

he paused trying to word it so Orihime would smile. He hated when she wasn't her goofy bubbly self,

"your loyal… friends… and we would never harm you in anyway."

Orihime gave a weak smile, "How can you be so sure it wasn't real?"

Ulquiorra sighed before allowing the smallest of smirks grace his face,

"Because you said Kurosaki was able to defeat me."

This made Orihime laugh and immediately cheered her up.

"Maybe this new life is a good thing. I always wanted to be able to help others but in my other life I always ended up just being a burden. From now on I'm going to be strong for my new friends, my old friends and for Kurosaki-kun."

Ulquiorra rose to his feet, "Good, that is what I would expect Inoue-sama to say."

He walked to the door but before he left he was stopped by Orihime's voice,

"You can just call me Orihime, Ulquiorra-kun."

Ulquiorra, facing away from her, gave a small smile,

"Not a chance, Inoue-sama."

He left leaving Orihime with a smile on her face.

* * *

Orihime walked through the halls until she found the reiatsu signature she had been looking for. She went to knock on the door but it opened before she could revealing Ichigo. He almost jumped back instinctively from someone being at the door but just smiled when he saw who it was.

"Hey Inoue."

"Hey Kurosaki-kun, umm what happened to your horn?"

It was true, Ichigo's mask no longer had a horn protruding out of it.

"Oh, I just ripped it off. Get's in the way and I can make it grow back if I really wanted to."

"Oh."

They sat there for a moment before Ichigo laughed and realized that they were just staring at each other.

"Well do you want to come in?"

Orihime gave a nervous laugh,

"Sure."

She walked into to find that his room here was identical to the one in his house, only larger.

"So, umm, are you ok? Szayel said you have amnesia and that you dreamt up some alternate reality."

Orihime sat done on the couch joining him,

"Uh, I guess I did. I feels so real though, like it happened in another life not in a dream. I don't really know how to describe it."

Ichigo smirked, "So… What was I like in this alternate reality thing?"

Orihime giggled at his curiosity, "Well you were brave for starters. No matter who it was or what you were up against, you always saved the person that was in danger. You were courageous and willing sacrifice anything in order to protect your friends and family."

She stopped for a moment, "And I think you liked Rukia but both of you were too stubborn to admit it."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, "What makes you think I liked her?"

Orihime laughed, "Well you sort of invaded the Soul Society and rescued her."

Ichigo looked stunned before laughing, "Wow those are some crazy thoughts you got in your head, and your wrong you know."

Orihime thought he meant about being heroic and caring of his friends and sighed,

_Maybe this Kurosaki-kun isn't like the old one. Or fake one, I don't really know… _

"Ah!" She squeaked out of surprise when Ichigo put his arm around her and pulled her to him,

"You see, in this reality I don't really care for Rukia. I have always had my eyes on another girl."

Orihime was now madly blushing,

"W-What do you mean? Is it Nel?"

Ichigo laughed loudly at this,

"Nope, it's this crazy girl that doesn't even know how much she is cared about, especially by me. She also for some reason thinks she's weak when she is the most strong willed person I know and if it wasn't for her I'm not sure I'd want to be alive anyways."

At this point Orihime was smiling but had a few tears rolling down her face. She laid her head against his chest and just listened to his heartbeat.

"And she's also a lousy cook but don't tell her that cause she thinks it's 5 star quality and always make the Espada try her new recipes."

This earned him a playful punch and Orihime sat up,

"Kur… Ichigo I'm sorry that I said those mean things to you and that I can't remember anything."

Ichigo smiled,

"Don't worry about it. I know you were probably a little freaked out since you woke up with no memories. Actually now that you mention it I think you should go see Szayel so we can figure out what's happened to you."

He felt her flinch against him at the mention of Szayel.

"Don't worry I'll be there with you, ok?"

She just nodded and laid her head back against his chest before smiling.

_Maybe I should be jumping for joy after all._

* * *

So please tell me what you think cause I kinda like this story but what do I know right? Lol --- Also I've been doing a little video editing so go check out my Bleach AMV and tell me what you think!!!

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	4. The Angel of Death

Wow, 2 chapters in 3 days? Yeah needless to say, I was ready to start writing again lol. I liked this chapter because it reflects on the 2 different worlds Orihime is from and how she is dealing with the transition.

Anyways… Enjoy and **REVIEW!!!!!**

* * *

Chapter 3- The Angel of Death

"A.I.Z.E.N."

Ichigo sighed as Orihime spelled out the name for the 5th time,

"No, I have never heard of this 'Aizen' guy. Why's he so important anyways? I thought you said he was from your alternate reality dream thing?"

Orihime gave up and with a defeated voice said,

"Yeah I guess that's the only place he ever existed since no one here has ever heard of him."

Ichigo noticed her slightly downcast attitude, "Alright, tell me about him. Was he your friend or something? He must been somewhat important since you think it's so bizarre I don't know him."

He paused, "He wasn't my friend was he?"

Orihime was trying to figure out how to tell him that Aizen was the one who killed him,

"Well, not exactly…"

Ichigo tried to figure out what she was trying to say when an odd thought crossed his mind and his face suddenly went crimson red,

"What's wrong Ichigo?"

He looked around and made sure no one else was around them and then in a voice just above a whisper he said,

" Umm, Orihime, I wasn't… uh you know… _gay _… in your dream was I?"

Orihime stopped walking trying to figure out why he asked such a ridicules question when she realized he was referring to Aizen. She then proceeded to laugh insanely. Ichigo looked away toward the wall still red,

"Shut up already! I was just trying to figure out who the hell this Aizen guy is!"

Orihime looked up from the floor, she had fallen over from laughter, and managed to say,

"But..to…think..you..were..gay..is…just….so..funny..!"

Ichigo huffed, "Well a lot of things are 'funny' in your dream thing ok!!!"

Orihime slowly started to regain her composure, allowing a few chuckles out here and there, and Ichigo helped her up. They continued walking until they got to a large set of doors. All the talking had made Orihime forget where they were going.

_Szayel's lab… _

She quickly got behind Ichigo as if something was going to jump out of the doors and eat here. He laughed forgetting about the Aizen ordeal,

"Why are you so afraid Szayel anyways? He probably one of your favorite Espada to hangout with, well besides Nel and Halibel."

Orihime looked at him with wide eyes, "Really?!?"

Ichigo went to open the door but hesitated suddenly having a bad feeling. For some reason his instincts were telling him something was really off for Orihime to be so frightened,

"Orihime, what was Szayel like in your dream?"

She looked at him, eyes still full of fear and whispered, "Do you remember much from history class?"

He nodded, "Yeah I loved history, why?"

"Do you remember a lot about World War II?"

Ichigo nodded again, not really seeing where this was going. Orihime started to fidget,

"Well, he was like Josef Mengele."

Ichigo was thoroughly stunned. He remembered that name and what that person did but there was no way that that was the person Orihime was referring to. The Josef Mengele he remembered from history class was cruel, heartless, and a mad scientist that was a Nazi SS medical officer. He remembered the stories of his sick and twisted experiments on twins and the deformed and how he would not only destroy his unlucky test subjects physically but also mentally through psychological torture. Ichigo even vaguely remembered that he had read that the mad man was unstable and often had disturbing mood swings, one minute a charming gentlemen the next, he was beating prisoners heads in with a club. He shuddered at the unwanted memories and said in a slightly shaky voice,

"Mengele… like the doctor at Auschwitz? That's what Szayel was like?"

Orihime tried to remember all of her encounters with Szayel when she had been a prisoner as Ichigo waited nervously,

"No, "

Ichigo let out a sigh of relief, "Thank God, I think that would have been too weird to handle hearing it come from someone as kind-hearted and honest as you. I mean…"

Ichigo was cut off by Orihime's quiet, scared voice,

"He was worse."

* * *

_Flashback_

* * *

Orihime had just healed Grimmjow's arm and was being led somewhere by Ulquiorra. Her mind was reeling over how violent and ruthless Grimmjow had been to that other Arrancar, Luppi they had called him… or was it a her? Either way the poor thing was blown to bits by Grimmjow. Orihime couldn't fathom how he could've done that just after having his arm given back to him. She had thought he would be grateful and maybe even have a new outlook on how valuable life is.

_I guess not… _

With her mind thinking about everything else, she didn't notice Ulquiorra stop in front of her and ran into him. She almost fell over as he looked at her curiously before returning back to his emotionless state,

"Watch where your going woman. The next Arrancar you run into may not be as forgiving as me."

Orihime just apologized quietly and followed Ulquiorra through a large set of doors. Suddenly her nostrils were filled with the smell of "Sterilized" as she would describe it, a mix of Formaldehyde, Alcohol, and various other chemicals. She started to notice the several tables and shelves full of chemicals and jars. The jars made of queasy as she could tell their was something that used to be alive in them. As they walked further in the building they came to a room that had a different smell, though Orihime couldn't quite place it.

_It's kind of metallic and sort of coppery maybe… Oh well, it's not important I guess. _

She noticed the room was lined with odd looking few metal 'beds' that were tilted slightly and below each one there was a drain.

_That's odd, why would you need a drain? _

Then she noticed the restraints on the "bed" and she started to tremble in fear.

_No, it's not that. Your just scaring yourself. _

Then at the end of the row of metal "beds" she saw a person in a white lab coat with glasses hanging over something on one of the "beds". When the reach him Orihime gagged and nearly puked.

_They're dissection tables! And that smell… it was blood. _

The man was dissecting an Arrancar with the utmost care and hadn't noticed them until they were close. He stopped and put his various instruments onto a metal pan and went to the sink to wash his hands before saying,

"Ulquiorra, what do I owe this pleasure?"

If Ulquiorra was affected by the gruesome scene in front of them, he didn't show it.

"Aizen-sama has asked that you give the human an examination to make sure her body can handle prolonged exposure to the Hueco Mundo environment. She is very important to Aizen-sama's plans so do not do anything other then your ordered to do or you'll end up like your specimen."

Ulquiorra indicated he was referring to the barely recognizable body of the Arrancar on the table. Szayel laughed,

"Ulquiorra your so frightening sometimes. Of course I won't experiment on the girl, though I admit from your earlier report she does have a very intriguing ability."

Ulquiorra gave him a cold intimidating stare. Szayel smirked and bowed,

"You have my word Cuarto, I will not harm the girl in any way whatsoever."

Ulquiorra simply turned to leave the room as Szayel finished washing his hands. Orihime was frozen in her spot,

_I-I'm alone with h-him! _

Szayel walked over to her and very kindly said,

"I am Szayel Aporro Granz and it seems as though I will be giving you an examination and since I do not feel like dying anytime soon by disobeying orders I'm going to have to be very thorough."

He paused then started again,

"I need you to remove all your articles of clothing and lay on one of the tables so that we can get this over with as painlessly as possible because you happened to interrupt during something quite fascinating."

She started to tremble at the words, "Y-You mean you want me to get… n-naked?"

He sighed in frustration, "Yes that would be what I was trying to get across to you. Don't worry about anything sexual, I have no desires of that nature toward worthless trash like you. The only time I would or will ever touch you is during dissection or experimentation."

Orihime eyes grew wider as Szayel smiled as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose,

"But I was specifically ordered not to do either of those so I guess I'll add 'examinations' to that list as well."

He walked toward her as she began shed a few tears,

"No! Don't touch me."

Szayel chuckled at her small outburst, "I already told you nothings going to happen besides a simple examination."

Orihime stayed defiant, "No."

Szayel was beginning to grow irritated,

"If you don't strip down right now so I can get back to my experiment then I'm going to use force. Either way you will do as I say girl."

Orihime went to say something but was knocked unconscious. When she woke she was completely naked on the table with Szayel beside her reading something on his notepad. Before she could scream he hit the release button and the restraints undid themselves. He smiled deviously at her,

"All done, see that wasn't so bad now was it? And nothing happened but an examination and surprisingly your powers allow you to survive in the Hueco Mundo environment easily. Actually I'd go as far as to say you could thrive in it, given enough time to adapt and perhaps a few experimental drugs…"

He continued to rant as he walked away and Orihime put her clothes back on. Despite the ominous feeling she had, she felt fine and she was positive she wasn't abused sexually in any way. She was relieved but was ready to leave. As she walked to the door Szayel appeared before her.

"Where do you think your going?"

Orihime flinched, "I'm done here right?"

"Yes but you can't be allowed to walk alone, you should've known that."

"Oh, well then are you going to walk me to my cell?"

Szayel laughed, "No you'll have to wait for Ulquiorra to get back. In the meantime you will be under my care and will obey me, understood?"

She reluctantly nodded.

He smiled, "Good. Now I need you to revive my specimen over here."

Orihime gasped, "Why!?"

Szayel smile grew wider,

"So I can dissect him again. You can only tell so much about the nervous system when their drugged up. So this time I'm not going to use any anesthetics and then after that you'll revive him again and again and again until Ulquiorra arrives. This specimen is one of a kind and since I have you I'm allowed to do, what is the term? Trial and Error?"

Over the next three hours Orihime revived the poor Arrancar and watched as Szayel dissected him in different ways and injected him with different chemicals. Orihime didn't know which was worse the screaming of the Arrancar that was doomed to die gruesome deaths over and over, or the whistling and smiling of Szayel enjoying every bit of it. By the time Ulquiorra arrived Orihime's eyes were bloodshot and her cheeks were stained red from the tears.

* * *

_End Flashback_

* * *

Szayel was working on his latest experiment when he heard the large doors open to his main laboratory. Sensing the reiatsu signatures he smiled,

"Ah, I see you have finally been convinced that I'm not as bad as your alternate reality portrayed me."

She simply stayed glued to Ichigo's side. Szayel looked at the couple,

"So she's still afraid then?"

Ichigo nodded. Szayel sighed then said in a mischievous voice,

"Well surely you can't be frightened with your big brave _Kurosaki-kun _with you, right?"

Ichigo turned slightly red and narrowed his eyes while Orihime gave a small chuckle. Szayel smiled,

"There it is! The famous smile that only Inoue-sama can produce. I'm glad that you still remember how to do that. Alright, well since you're here I suppose your at least convinced that we need to figure out what has happened to your memory."

Orihime meekly replied, "Yes…"

Szayel walked over to an examination bed that was padded complete with small pillow if the patient was lying down and patted it. Orihime didn't move until Ichigo moved and they slowly made their way to the bed. Orihime reluctantly crawled onto the bed and laid down while tightly gripping onto Ichigo's hand. Before Szayel could speak Orihime said,

"I don't have to… get naked do I?"

Ichigo turned red and Szayel looked slightly surprised then gave a small chuckle,

"No, that won't be necessary since the problem is memory loss. I'm just going to take an MRI then put you in the RAM."

Orihime exhaled the breath she had been holding. Ichigo quirked an eyebrow,

"What's the RAM?"

Szayel smiled crazily from excitement, "It's a Reiatsu Analysis Machine that I invented. I actually just finished it a few weeks ago but no worries, I've already tested it several times with nothing but success. If neurological damage isn't the source of her memory loss then it's probably reiatsu based, hence why I need the RAM."

Ichigo nodded remembering all the medical terms his dad used in the clinic. Orihime squirmed a little,

"What if it's neither of those?"

Szayel pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose,

"Then it will most likely be psychological and I'm afraid there is no treatment for that besides being around people and places that can trigger you to remember."

Orihime frowned unsure of what to think. Szayel noticed and decided to proceed with the MRI to get some answers.

"Don't worry Orihime I'll be right here."

Orihime gave a small smile as Szayel started up the machine. Ichigo moved back and let go of her hand as the table went into a large tube shaped machine.

* * *

After an hour and a half of testing Szayel was both frustrated and amazed. He looked over the sheets of paper scanning the results with lightening quickness and accuracy. Ichigo anxiously waited with Orihime in his arms until he couldn't take it,

"So what is it?"

Szayel gave a small chuckle, "Well there's good news, great news and some bad news, take your pick."

Orihime, being an optimist, quickly said,

"Bad news last."

"Ok, well first off your physically fine and the MRI came back clean. The great news is that the RAM shows that your reiatsu capacity as well as density have increased dramatically from something, clearly some significant event. I'm actually encouraged from the results because your memory loss may have been cause by whatever caused this increase in power."

Ichigo smiled as he sat his chin on top of Orihime's head and wrapped his arms around her waist. Orihime was smiling but then realized there was more,

"What's the bad news?"

Szayel sighed, "Your Shun Shun Rikka seem to be completely depleted of power. I'm not aware of anything that could have that severe of an impact on them, being as unique as they are but something nearly destroyed them."

Orihime suddenly realized he was right, she could communicate or call out her fairies. Before she could panic Szayel said,

"Not to worry Inoue-sama. A day or two in my reiatsu restoration chamber they'll be as good as new."

He held out his hand, expecting Orihime to give him her hairpins.

"No."

Szayel was slightly taken back by her bluntness.

"Inoue-sama they will be safe and secure I assure you. If you don't then it may take a week or more for them to fully recover."

Orihime stood her ground, "Then I'll wait."

Szayel sighed but smiled at her defiance, "So be it. At least your sounding more like your old self."

* * *

Orihime and Ichigo walked out of the lab, both feeling relieved. Orihime was happy that her Shun Shun Rikka were going to be fine and that Szayel seemed to be a different person, though she still didn't trust him. Ichigo on the other hand was happy that Orihime didn't have any brain damage. As they walked Ichigo felt a familiar reiatsu and started to head toward it. Orihime noticed he was sensing something but she was to tired to really feel anything but she did smell something.

_FOOD!!! _

She hadn't eaten since she woke and was starving. Ichigo saw her face,

"Ready to eat?"

She nodded and he opened a large door and lead her into the large room. Orihime immediately saw that the room was filled with the Espada,

"Hiya! Orihime-sama! Itsygo!"

Nel jumped up from the huge dining table and went over embracing both of them in a bone crushing hug. When she released them, they both nearly fell to the floor.

"Oh, sorry Orihime-sama, I know your going through a tough time so I made you your favorite dish!"

Orihime stretching her back saw Nel pull out a seat and on the table in front of the seat was an assortment of every kind of crazy food Orihime could imagine, all topped with bean paste. She jumped up in down, forgetting about the fact she was in a world that was a complete contradiction of everything she remembered and jumped up and down,

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Ichigo laughed and looked at Nel as Orihime started to devour her food and said sarcastically,

"Thanks for making me lunch Nel."

She laughed, "Orihime-sama needed it more than you did."

Ichigo agreed, "Yeah I appreciate it, she's been pretty down." He smiled at her choice of food, "Though I think that is one thing that'll never change about Orihime. Her love for bizarre foods."

The door opened and Zommari came in cut in several places,

"My apologizes for interrupting but we have a problem."

Ichigo and Nel both sighed,

"Great what is it now?"

Zommari took a moment to catch his breath,

"Shinigami."

* * *

First off if your curious about how I got the name for the chapter, victims of Auschwitz commonly referred to Josef Mengele as the "Angel of Death" and since I'm paralleling Szayel with him I thought it fit. I'm still looking for a proofreader because I'm to lazy to do it lol so any volunteers just message me!!!!!

Also as always I hope you enjoyed reading and please

**REVIEW!!!!!!! **

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	5. Understanding

Another chapter for your viewing pleasure lol ----- Thanks to everyone who reviewed and favorited the story.

Still looking for someone to proofread but if no one volunteers at least point some of my mistakes out in your reviews because I know I have plenty lol

Enjoy and remember **REVIEW!!!!!!! Thx Enjoy**

* * *

Chapter 4- Understanding

"Shinigami? Your all cut up from some shinigami?"

Nel was trying to stop her laughs from coming out. It was widely believed by all the inhabitants of Las Noches that Shinigami were inferior to Arrancar in terms of power, though Orihime and her friends were slightly less arrogant then the others. Zommari suppressed all his anger and calmly said,

"No Nelliel, this was done to me by that Adjuchas Ichigo brought in. He wouldn't cooperate and said some rather… vulgar… things about Inoue-sama and one thing led to another. Regardless he is currently still alive and in a containment cell at the moment."

Ichigo smirked,

"I knew I made the right decision putting you in charge of that Hollow."

Zommari bowed slightly as Ichigo continued,

"So what's up with the Shinigami then?"

Zommari straightened at attention,

"We captured two Shinigami who were spying within the confines of Las Noches. I'm not sure how they were able to infiltrate the outer wall of the fortress without detection but they were caught immediately once they attempted to breach the inner wall by one of Szayel's advanced detection devices. Halibel's fraccion were the closet and easily captured the two Shinigami with minimal effort and are currently in containment cells until Inoue-sama decides what to do with them."

Orihime, who hadn't even noticed Zommari come in the room being preoccupied with her various foods and having a 'who can eat the fastest contest' with Yammy, turned around at the sound of her name.

With her mouth full, she asked, "Wha ooo I ave to ecide?"

Nel laughed and Ichigo scratched the back of his head, "Well we caught two shinigami and now don't know what you want us to do with them."

Orihime eyes widened as she swallowed her food, "Shinigami?"

Zommari nodded taking a seat by her grabbing some food, "Hai, Inoue-sama."

Orihime put a finger to her chin in thought,

"Has this happened before? Why would they want to spy on us anyways?"

Nel and Zommari raised their eyebrows in surprise but Ichigo seemed to have seen this question coming,

"Here lets take a walk to the containment cells and I'll tell you what's happened over the past two years. That way you have a better grasp on what to expect from now on."

Orihime nodded, not really all that worried or edgy anymore, and got up, pushing her chair in. Justbefore they left Zommari quickly stood and said,

"Also Inoue-sama, I personally interrogated the two with relative ease and found that they are the Vice-captains but that's all I could find out. They were surprisingly strong minded individuals."

Orihime looked worried, "Interrogated? You didn't, like, hurt them right?"

Zommari looked surprised, "Inoue-sama, I would never go to such extremes without your permission, however, I did have to use my resurrection form to make them talk but no physical harm was done to them and they are no longer under my Amor."

Orihime looked at her feet before facing the Espada and smiled,

"Thank you Zommari. I wish I could remember what I did to inspire such respect but thank you."

Zommari bowed and Ichigo opened the door for her, "Don't worry I think after I tell you about what you've done in the past two years you'll understand."

Orihime smiled and followed Ichigo out the door. Nel looked at Yammy who had ten different empty plates stacked in front of him and was in the process of getting another one.

"You ate all that?"

Yammy looked up from his current plate, "Yeah, did you want some?"

Nel shook her head and laughed as she sat down beside him grabbing a plate then patted the large Arrancar on the back,

"You scare me big guy."

Yammy huffed and Nel gave a small laugh when Orihime's head quickly popped through the door,

"Hey Yammy! Roll me."

Nel looked confused but Yammy simply grabbed a dinner roll and flicked it at the girl who caught it and was gone as fast as she had appeared.

Yammy laughed a little, "I think Inoue-sama will be back to normal in no time. She already remembers mine and her food lingo."

Nel nodded then got a mischievous grin on her face as she eyed Zommari who took notice of this suspiciously,

"Why are you looking at me like that Nelliel?"

Nel tried to look innocent and grabbed a roll before suddenly throwing it at an unsuspecting Zommari,

"I got you! YAY!!!"

He sighed as it bounced off his head and onto Yammy's plate, "Must you always act like this?"

Yammy ate the roll without a second thought and Nel chuckled,

"You know you love me!"

The stoic Arrancar simply sighed and continued eating as Nel inched her way over to him,

"So, is that Adjuchas really that powerful or what?"

Zommari looked up from his meal, "More powerful than I had suspected but he is still no match for any of the Espada in his current form."

Nel noticed the troubled tone behind his words, "What's wrong?"

"There is something odd about him but I can't put my finger on it. I feel that if he does become an Arrancar something bad will happen. I fear he may try to harm Inoue-sama."

Nel turned serious, "Yeah, I kinda got that feeling too."

* * *

As the couple walked down the hall, Orihime was having trouble taking in all of what she had apparently done the past two years.

"I rejected the Hougyoku?!? How?"

Ichigo laughed, "I'm not sure you just showed up, turned me into an Arrancar then told me about how you made a deal with Mr. Hat and Clogs."

Orihime was amazed, "I can't believe I was that bold…"

Ichigo smiled,

"That's not even the best part. After you and me had been wandering for a while we came across Ulquiorra and Nel. You made them into Arrancar and shortly after that we found Starrk and Lilynette."

Orihime looked like she was in a daze,

"I really made them into Arrancar?"

Ichigo gave a chuckle, "Yeah then we tried to reason with Barragan but that didn't work and he tried to kill us."

Orihime's eyes widened, "What happened then?"

Ichigo smirked,

"He used his powers and nearly killed me and Nel but you rejected his time affect and helped us defeat him and end his reign as Ruler of Hueco Mundo."

Orihime couldn't believe it, "I helped defeat Barragan?"

"Yup, actually without you we probably wouldn't have won. He was pretty strong but after you rejected his affects, we took him out."

Ichigo quickly said in a serious voice, "Your braver and more bold then you know."

Orihime looked into his eyes seeing the sincerity of his words before quickly looked at the floor. Ichigo saw this,

"What's wrong?"

Orihime fidgeted,

"Well it just that… what if I'm not as strong willed as I was back then. I mean, before this morning the bravest thing I had ever done was…"

She was cut off, "Surrendering your mind, body, and soul to a madman for the lives of your friends by going to Hueco Mundo if I remember your story correctly. Right?"

Orihime stopped walking stared at the wall with dull eyes, "You make it sound like I had a choice. It was either go with Ulquiorra or he was going to kill all my friends… even you. It didn't work anyways, everyone ended dying…"

Ichigo walked behind her and wrapped his arms around her resting his chin on her head and sighed,

"The fact that you think there was no other choice shows me how brave you are. Most other people would've only thought of themselves."

Orihime leaned into his chest as he continued,

"You need to stop being so hard on yourself. That other reality you dreamed up isn't real, were all alive and well here. In this life, we all care about you and you've saved everyone more than once."

Orihime looked up to Ichigo's upside down face with eyes brimming with tears, "I just don't want lose you again. I don't think my heart could take it. I'd rather die than have my friends die because I'm weak."

Ichigo took note of her words,

_In her dream her friends died because of her? I died because of her? No wonder she feels so guilty… I'll ask her about her dream so more later but for now… _

Ichigo brought her closer in an embrace and said softly,

"You are not weak, Orihime. You are strong and the bond we share is even stronger. We will never be separated from one another."

Ichigo kissed her softly, "I promise."

Orihime was stunned by the fact Ichigo had just kissed her like it was nothing but after the initial shock she felt relieved. The fact that she was in a world that was in itself a contradiction of everything she knew before instantly stopped bothering her.

_In this world, Ichigo really loves me, Aizen doesn't seem to exist, my friends are alive, and I use my powers to return sanity to otherwise mindless hollow that seem to be decent people. _

She smiled as a few tears ran down her cheek as she looked up at an also smiling Ichigo,

_Yes, I think I can get used to this world. Sure I wanted to go to college and do a million different things in the world before but I've always wanted to help others and who needs more help then these hollow who are only like this because of their sufferings on earth or had no choice in the matter… Like my brother. _

Before he could let go of her to keep walking, Orihime clutched a surprised Ichigo by his bright orange hair brought him down into a deep, passionate kiss.

_And now I'll be able to be with the man I've always loved. _

As she was making out with Ichigo she couldn't stop one repetitive thought in her head,

_Please don't let this be a dream. _

_Please don't let this be a dream. _

_Please don't let this be a dream…_

* * *

Grimmjow was bored. It wasn't often this happened, in fact since Inoue had become their leader he had been living the high life, in his opinion anyways. She had given him more power than he thought possible and she could heal any wound so he could keep doing what he loved most, fighting. On top of all that every fight could be fought without restraint or possible death because she could simply use her powers to put them back together, regardless of how many pieces they were in. Another benefit of following Inoue was that the Shinigami were after her, which meant he got to fight any Shinigami that dared set foot in Hueco Mundo or Karakura. He liked a variety of opponents and Hollow after Hollow was starting to get boring so the random Shinigami that he got to fight, some in Hueco Mundo and some in the world of the living, was a fresh spin on the usual. He was sitting on his bed after just taking a cat nap and decided to go see what Kurosaki was doing. Ichigo and him often fought and surprisingly sometimes Grimmjow won, though it was usually a 60/40 Ichigo victory. Something had clicked in Grimmjow's mind the day he met Ichigo that told him that he hated him. Ever since then he fought him in battles to the death on an almost daily basis, which was possible because of Inoue's powers. As time wore on, he saw Ichigo as less of a pain in the ass that needed to be killed and more as a "friendly" rival. Ichigo and Grimmjow had made one another stronger through their rivalry and although he would never admit it, Grimmjow had started to like Ichigo in a brotherly sort of way.

Grimmjow smirked, "It's always fun to pick on him. I might even get a fight out of the deal."

He hopped off his bed and went into the hall. After finding Ichigo's reiatsu and following it, Grimmjow found an amusing scene. Ichigo and Orihime looked as if they were sucking the air out of one another. Ichigo also was starting to round second base with his hand feeling up the leader of Las Noches, who didn't seem to mind by the moans she was producing. Grimmjow was tempted to leave and let the young couple go at it but then a devious grin spread across his face,

_But then that wouldn't be nearly as much fun as seeing the look on Kurosaki's face when he's caught with his hand in the cookie jar…_

He casually rounded the corner so he was in open in plain sight. He expected them to freak out at seeing him but apparently they were so focused on each other they didn't notice him. Grimmjow hated not being noticed. With his hands in his pocket he started walking toward them and said mischievously,

"Your telling me that out of the thousands of rooms in the ungodly large fortress you two couldn't find an empty one?"

The two immediately jumped at the sound of another person and were both pink in the face from embarrassment. Neither of them could really reply because they were trying to catch their breath so Grimmjow decided to speak,

"So I guess it's safe to say she got her memory back then?"

Ichigo shook his head and Orihime just turned redder. Grimmjow was baffled,

"Wait, your telling me she still has no idea of her life beyond her 'alternate reality' or whatever the hell Szayel called it and you two are already back at it?"

Ichigo just scratched the back of his head nervously, "Uh, yeah."

Grimmjow looked between his leader and his rival a few times with a dumbfounded face before laughing insanely,

"The fuck is this shit! How the hell did you manage to get Inoue-sama to fall for your ugly ass again! I have to admit you got some skills with women Kurosaki."

He turned his attention to the girl who's face was a nice shade of crimson,

"And Inoue-sama, I didn't realize you were so horny! You must've been pretty deprived in that dream of yours to jump on him in the middle of the hall considering how modest you usually are."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes ready to rip Grimmjow apart.

The 6th Espada smirked, "I'm just joking Kurosaki chill. I'm actually glad things are starting to get back to normal. I don't particularly like when my leader isn't feeling well and not acting like her normal self."

He walked past them before Ichigo could say anything,

"Later lovebirds and next time find a room."

* * *

Ichigo and Orihime decided to wait until after they dealt with the Shinigami to talk about what happened in the hall and continued toward the cells in an awkward silence. Orihime may have thought of herself as more bold than her former self but being caught by Grimmjow was probably the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to her. The eventually made it to the cell block and found three Arrancar guarding them. Orihime recognized them immediately as Halibel's fraccion and also noted the cells were nothing like the one she had been in, they were actually more like jail cells in a prison.

"Shut up Apache! Inoue-sama's going to be here any minute!"

"I know that Mila Rose, you dumb shit!"

"Both of you look so foolish arguing like that."

"Shut it Sun-Sun!"

Ichigo cleared his throat to get the attention of the girls,

"All of you shut it or I'll tell Halibel. Got it."

They looked horrified, "Yes! Sorry Ichigo-sama!"

Inoue laughed, "Don't worry he won't tell, I won't let him but I would like it if you could show me the Shinigami you all found."

They all nodded as Ichigo scowled at her,

"You can't be too nice to these girls Orihime, they're evil."

The trio laughed, "Only to you Ichigo-sama."

He sighed as they opened the cell revealing two chained Shinigami. Ichigo and Orihime walked into the cell with the trio of girls who announced,

"This is our leader so stand up maggots or we'll make you regret it."

Orihime thought it was a bit mean of them but as long as no physical harm was done to the shinigami she was ok. The shinigami stood up as they were told and Orihime froze as their familiar faces were lit up by the lone reverse crescent moon shining through the barred window. Orihime could barely contain her happiness and tears at the sight before her and in a quivering voice said,

"Rangiku? Hisagi?"

* * *

Well here's another chapter hope you enjoy and THANK YOU for all the reviews last chapter.

As always **REVIEW and tell me what you think.**

**PeAcE OuT**


	6. Old Friends?

I know, I know your probably wanting to physically harm me in one way or another for leaving the last chapter like I did but read bottom A/N for reason of my absence of writing. **Remember to Review **and of course,

_**Enjoy**_

Chapter 5- Old Friends?

Orihime was in a trance like state. Sure she should have figured that if Ichigo, Chad and Uryuu were alive then her other friends would be alive too but seeing them there, breathing and in one piece was…

_Unbelievable.._.

She slowly walked toward her well endowed friend, her eyes brimming with tears.

"R-Rangiku? Is that really you?"

The shinigami's eyes widened.

_How does she know who I am and why is she acting like that? It must be some kind of trick. _

In a cold voice she replied, "I will not divulge any information, no matter what you do to me."

Orihime stopped, just staring at her. Rangiku stared at Orihime harshly not even looking like the laidback woman Orihime knew and loved. Ichigo and the trio of Fraccion looked on unsure of what to make of the scene. The trio of fraccion turned to Ichigo ,

"Does Inoue-sama know these Shinigami?"

Ichigo shrugged, "Maybe it has something to do with her dream."

Halibel's fraccion gave him an odd look, "Halibel will tell you about it later."

They just nodded as they looked back at their leader. Orihime continued to walk until she was only a few inches away from Rangiku and just stared into her sky blue eyes. Said shinigami was absolute in her resolve,

"We will not do anything that you ask and we won't…"

Rangiku was interrupted by the sudden feeling of the girl's arms wrapped tightly around her. The shinigami's first instinct was to attack, retaliate, and destroy this person for all of the lives she had destroyed but she couldn't do any of that. Besides the fact she was physically restrained, Rangiku felt an odd sense of familiarity toward the Soul Society's mortal enemy and could only stand in shock of the young girl's actions.

_What is she doing? _

Before she could finish the thought, Rangiku felt tears cascading down the girls face onto her uniform. Rangiku went to push her off when she heard a strangled whisper,

"I'm so happy your ok. I thought I had lost you. I'm sorry I was too weak to save you. I'm so sorry…"

Rangiku was confused beyond reason and could hear the sincerity, honesty, and shame in the girl's voice.

_Maybe she is crazy but her insanity will not take back all that she has done… _

Just before she was about to push the young leader backwards, her thoughts were interrupted as Hisagi attempted in his weak and drained body to move toward Orihime.

"Don't you dare touch her you murderer!"

Orihime watched with wide and confused eyes as he struggled against the chains to get as close as possible to her.

"After what you did to Momo and Renji. Your no better than these Arrancar scum you've created!"

She turned back at Rangiku who had a dark look in her eyes. Her eyes darted between her two former friends and she began stumbling over her words,

"I..I.. I don't k-know what your t-talking about. I would never hurt Momo-san or Renji-kun. I…"

Before she could continue Rangiku spit on her face and screamed,

"Is that so! Then what about Toshiro! Do you remember what you did to him? How dare you! Your day will come you pathetic…"

In what seemed like a split second the female shinigami was launched backwards into the wall a hand around her throat while the Vice-Captain of the ninth was quickly surrounded by the trio of female Arrancar. Ichigo clenched the woman's throat tightly, her hands struggling against his grip,

"It would've been wise for you to have kept your mouth shut instead of spouting out ignorant accusations that you know nothing about. You have no idea what it's like to have a never ending void in your heart… you have no idea of the hell that she saved us from. So what if a few shinigami were killed,"

Ichigo's voice began to steadily rise,

"You self-righteous shinigami kill our kind by the thousands! Like were nothing more than pests that need to be dealt with!"

His voice lowered into something between a growl and a whisper,

"That's why shinigami do not deserve to live."

Ichigo watched as her breathing became more sporadic as the life began to leave her glazed eyes and rolled into the back of her head. Then in what only lasted in a split second Ichigo saw her give a sly grin and mouthed something to him. Something that greatly disturbed him and only made his grip tighten.

"STOP YOUR GOING TO KILL THEM!"

Ichigo was snapped from his trance and all eyes turned to the leader of Las Noches as she began to gather her reiatsu with tears streaming down her face and without even calling on them her fairies shot out. Ichigo's eyes widened as one came straight toward him knocking him off of the shinigami and releasing his grip on the woman. Two created a healing shield around the shinigami while the remaining three made a barrier between them and the Arrancar. At first Ichigo and Hallibel's fraccion could only stare at their leader in shock as she defended their mortal enemy. As she continued to heal the shinigami Ichigo finally regained his bearings and realized that she was using her powers. Something Szayel said she shouldn't be able to do for a few weeks. He ran toward Orihime who was growing paler by the second. Just as her fairies finished their jobs and came back to her, she collapsed only to be caught by Ichigo. He cradled her in his arms and was about to speak when she put a finger to his lips to stop him. She smiled weakly up at him and said in a completely drained and weak voice,

"I'm sorry I used Tsubuki on you, I didn't mean for him to hurt you."

Ichigo smirked, "Don't worry about it. I know I got carried away."

Orihime let out a yawn and closed her eyes, "I just didn't want you to hurt them. I know how it feels to fail a friend and I couldn't let you bear that burden. It's the most awful feeling imaginable."

Ichigo was confused but simply stared at her peaceful face as she continued,

"I think I'm going to take a nap, I'm really tired but I need to ask you a favor first."

Ichigo was starting to get very worried feeling that something bad was about to happen, "Sure anything."

Orihime opened her eyes as her breathing began to slow down and even out as she spoke in a barely audible soft voice,

"Please don't hurt them. I know they kill us like we were nothing, like we were trash and that if the roles were switched they wouldn't hesitate to kill us… but if we start killing them out of hate… that's the moment we'll become the very monster that we have fought so hard to overcome."

The young man was taken back by the words of his friend. He couldn't think of anything to say and simply replied,

"I-I promise they won't be harmed, just rest now."

She smiled and closed her eyes again and simply snuggled up to his chest,

"Thank you Ichigo. I knew you were the same brave boy I feel in love with."

Ichigo smiled, "Sweet Dreams."

He picked her up and went to exit the cell when he stopped and without turning around said,

"Apache, Mila Rose, Sun-Sun."

The trio looked at him being broken out of their trance of the strange events as Apache finally answered,

"Yes Ichigo-sama?"

"Remove the prisoners from their chains but leave their reiatsu restrainers on and get someone to make them dinner. They will not under any circumstance be harmed is that understood?"

The three looked at one another, "Hai."

He continued through door with Orihime sleeping soundly against his chest and securely in his arms. All he could think about was what the shinigami had mouthed silently to him in what she thought would be her last breath. Five words that troubled him more than any amount of reiatsu ever could.

_You can not save her…_

Ichigo finally reached Orihime's room where he gently sat her down on her bed. He made sure she was properly covered so she wouldn't get cold and left toward the Espada meeting room. As he walked he could feel Nel closing in on him at extreme speeds. Just as he made a corner he reached his arm out and grabbed Nel by the arm to stop her as she blindly Sonidoed toward Orihime's room. Unfortunately for him he didn't realize how fast she was going and was taken off his feet and they both were thrown into a wall.

"Geez Nel you in a hurry?"

He asked sarcastically. She gave a small chuckle but replied quickly in a worried voice,

"Sorry I just felt Orihime-sama's reiatsu flare and I just wanted to go check on her. I know she has been through a rough day since this whole amnesia thing…"

Her voice trailed off and Ichigo sighed, "Yeah well she passed out but don't worry it's just from reiatsu exhaustion. She'll be back on her feet in no time. I'm going to have Szayel take a quick look at her before the meeting."

Nel leaned her back against the now broken wall and let out a sigh of relief then asked in a curious tone,

"What meeting?"

Ichigo said in a serious tone,

"I need you to assemble the rest of the Espada for an emergency meeting. We have a few things we need to deal with before she wakes back up."

Nel nodded in understanding and got to her feet and left. Ichigo got his feet and continued onto the meeting room knowing that what he had to say to his fellow Espada was going to be tough to swallow.

When the Espada, plus Chad and Ishida, had finally assembled in the meeting room, Ichigo stood and started to address them,

"First off I would like to address Inoue's situation. I was with her for the majority of the day and it seems it's pretty severe, more so than I first thought."

Grimmjow growled slightly in irritation and said,

"Thank you dumbass tell us something we don't know!"

Halibel gave him a stern look before address Ichigo who looked like he was going to jump across the table,

"I think what Grimmjow was trying to say is there any new developments that you have seen over the past 12 hours that would indicate that she remembers this… reality?"

Ichigo looked thoughtfully at the table as Yammy spoke up,

"Well at lunch she seemed to act like her old self."

Everyone seemed to lighten up slightly at this. Ichigo looked at Szayel motioning for him to speak. He looked at some papers and began talking,

"I can't speak for her ability to remember anything before this morning but I can talk about her physical well-being. Since the last test I ran on her this morning it seems as if her reiatsu levels are restoring themselves quicker than any of the most optimistic models predicted. According to the latest test that I have run on her, that I took just before this meeting, it seems as if she will be back to normal in a few days."

Everyone seemed slightly surprised by the news, except Ulquiorra,

"I presume this has some connection to her memory loss? Perhaps some type of reiatsu influx causing her memories to become distorted ?"

Szayel gave a devious grin, "Well aren't you the ever perceptive one. As our dear Primera said it is my belief that some type of phenomenon occurred sometime when Inoue-sama was asleep causing reiatsu levels to be completely depleted and allow for her body to become more completely bound to the Hogyoku and in turn cause her memory loss."

Ichigo's eyes widened,

"I thought she rejected the Hogyoku back in the world of the living? Didn't she destroy it?"

Szayel's grin seemed to widen, "Interesting theory Ichigo but no, she didn't."

The redhead was tempted to strangle the mad scientist but wanted to hear his explanation knowing he was truly a genius.

Szayel continued, "You see with the limited information I had of the Hogyoku I had always thought that it was simply some device created that could combine reiatsu of opposing forces, namely Hollow and Shinigami."

Nel looked confused, "I thought that's what it was…"

Szayel ignored her, " But after scanning Inoue-sama's reiatsu this morning and this evening I have come to the conclusion that the Hogyoku was actually an accumulation of powerful souls compressed into a single reiatsu sealing device. While it did bind with her to an extent, it was only increasing her powers a fraction of what it was capable of. Honestly I believe it may be capable of giving the wielder complete control over…"

Everyone seemed to inch in closer as the pink haired man stopped and waited silently for his answer. That was until Ulquiorra answered for him in a complete emotionless voice,

"It would give the wielder complete control over all reiatsu in a certain area as well as give them an enormous amount of power. Close to a normal Hollow turning straight into a Vasto Lorde."

Szayel gave a small chuckle, "Ulquiorra you are indeed intelligent but you are wrong, in this case the wielder would have limitless power."

The Primera gave the scientist a stare that would make any other person turn and run as Hallibel furrowed her brow slightly,

"How can anything give someone complete control over reiatsu and create such an increase in power? Surely there is some kind of limitation or natural laws that would prevent such an occurrence from happening."

Szayel explained, "It's actually ingenious and I must say I'm not completely sure how it was created but I do have an idea of how it works. Once the Hogyoku bonded with Inoue-sama it essentially amplified her powers exponentially. Normally an amplifier in this sense wouldn't be able to give someone 'limitless power' but because of the nature of Inoue-sama's powers I would predict that it would allow her to become essentially a god or, in this case, goddess . Her reiatsu will become denser and allow for her naturally occurring reiatsu field that she always has covering her body to become like armor. It would take a lot of reiatsu and raw power to even cut her but even then it wouldn't matter, more than likely her fairies will heal her completely before the blade even left her body. She will become comparable to nothing we have ever seen before, though honestly she was already that before this incident… Basically before this she was simply 'awakening' the Hogyoku for a short time when she created us and now it is just as much a part of her as he fairies."

Everyone seemed to be speechless as they looked to one another. Ichigo was extremely happy on one hand since nothing bad was happening to her. But on the other hand, he knew personally how bad a single additional soul inside of yourself could affect you and from what Nel had told him thousands were even worse. He spoke up in a uncertain voice,

"Will she experience anything like a normal Adjuchas or even Vasto Lorde since she has hundreds of souls inside of her? In terms of hearing voices and going insane…"

Szayel laughed, " I think you misunderstood me slightly. You see when a Adjuchas or, on a lower level of annoyance, Vasto Lorde have to deal with voices in their heads it's because there are unable to completely control their fallen victims reiatsu inside of them. Through Inoue-sama's and the Hogyoku's powers we were able to fully combine our reiatsu with those we had devoured and become the dominant personality with an additional force to act as a buffer mechanism, that being our Shinigami powers. Inoue-sama, however, will have no such problem being able to completely control and manipulate reiatsu at will. Her powers have perfectly merged with them so there is nothing to worry about in that regard."

Ichigo sighed in relief and Stark spoke up,

"Well I guess that means we won't have to worry about any invading Shinigami force then."

He grinned widely at the prospect of getting to sleep instead of having to fight of an invasion force. Ichigo looked around the room and decided now was the best time to tell them of the other reason he had called this meeting,

"Actually that's not entirely true."

Everyone looked at him questionably, including Ulquiorra,

"I think the Shinigami are about to invade Hueco Mundo."

Orihime slowly opened her eyes feeling completely drained of energy. She tried to raise her hand to her face but found that her limbs wouldn't obey her commands. Something about the situation made her feel very worried. As she blinked, she saw something land beside her. She used all her energy to turn her head to see what exactly it was. There in an almost identical shape as she was Lilly sat looking quite drained.

"L-Lilly? Are you ok?"

The fairy smiled but soon turned serious, "I don't have a lot of time and the others all let me borrow their energy so I could talk with you. Inoue-sama… We failed you."

Her voice was full of shame and Orihime could tell she was on the verge of tears, something she had never seen the normally happy fairy do.

"No you guys did great! You protected Rangiku and Hisagi plus Ichigo understands he was acting wrong."

She strained to smile at the small fairy. Lilly just shook her head,

"No not that Inoue-sama, we couldn't reject him… We tried as hard as we could and poured all of our energy into it but in the end he was too powerful. All we could do was delay his existence. Eventually he will come, I'm sorry…"

Orihime was confused beyond comprehension,

"I tried to reject someone's entire existence? W-Why would I do that… That's terrible. Who did I try to reject?"

Lilly went to speak and collapsed onto Orihime's arm. The young leader used all her energy to gently pick Lilly up and placed her chest to rest.

"It's alright you can tell me later, just rest now."

Lilly smiled and fell asleep. Orihime was about to go back to sleep as well when someone opened the door. She turned her head and gasped at the small, snow white figure occupying the doorway.

_Is that… Ichigo?_

Ok I know it's been awhile since my last update. Actually I haven't updated since before summer… But not to worry it's not writer block or anything like that. I'm still doing the story and have big plans for it as well as for my other story "A New Beginning". The summer has just really kept me busy, between work, motocross training and racing, spending time with my family since I was back from college, and hanging out with friends, I virtually have had no time to write. Now though I have plenty of time to write and hope no one has given up reading the story because of my absence cause I really enjoy writing and reading yall's reaction in the reviews. So thank you for reading, **Remember to Review, and I look forward to writing more regularly for you guys.**

**It's Good to be Back!**

**PeAcE OuT**


	7. Reap What You Sow

Well this chapter is a little shorter than i had hoped but the next one will definitely be longer. Enjoy and remember to REVIEW!

Chapter 6- You Reap What You Sow…

Orihime had so many questions from just being in this new world for one day. Why did the creation of the King's Key not kill her? How did she get to become the leader of the Arrancar? Why are her friends now her enemies and her enemies now her friends? Where was Tatsuki and Ichigo's family? How was it that no one seemed to know who the all powerful and infinitely evil Sosuke Aizen was? Did she really hurt Momo, Renji, and Toshiro? So many questions ran through the young girl's mind but at the moment she saw him all of that seemed temporarily forgotten. At first she didn't know if she was awake or not, which under the circumstances was understandable. Surely her near completely depleted reiatsu could make her hallucinate. At least she hoped it could. The figure standing in her doorway was by far the strangest and most disturbing thing she had seen since she saw Ulquiorra in his true form. It was a child that looked identical to the pictures she had seen of Ichigo as a kid but instead of having his bright orange hair and normal peach skin he had snow white hair and chalky white skin. His eyes were the most frightening feature on his entire body being the same as Ichigo had had during his fight with Grimmjow, black sclera and yellow iris. The boy was dressed in a pristine white Arrancar issued uniform and looked more like a soldier than a boy with his massive zanpakuto on his back resembling Ichigo's in its Shikai form. His face surprisingly showed a little emotion, however it was guilt and sorrow that Orihime saw, nothing like a normal child. Orihime wondered briefly if this is what Ichigo saw when he told her he had a hollow living inside of him just before she was taken by Ulquiorra o Hueco Mundo in her past life. Orihime could feel his dark, evil, and hollow like reiatsu though it seemed tainted by something else.

_I wonder what he is…_

Either way, she knew he was a powerful being and could probably kill her with ease when she was completely healthy. Unfortunately she wasn't completely healthy and her energy, physically and spiritually, were nearly gone. As if to confirm her worst nightmare, the snow white figure slowly moved closer to Orihime's bed and unsheathed his sword. Though it wasn't exactly important at the moment, Orihime couldn't help but mentally pat herself on the back of her previous assumption that this creature's weapon was like Ichigo's sword the only exception being the colors were inverted, where the sword was normally black it was white and vice-versa. As he reached the bed Orihime was frozen to her spot as she watched him, trying hard not to blink.

_What is this? _

_A dream? _

_A nightmare? _

_I don't understand… Is this really happening? _

_Is thischild about to kill me? _

_Am I going to die alone in my bed by the hands of a mini albino Ichigo? _

_Kind of ironic in a morbid kind of way…_

Her mind was racing and she didn't notice him set the sword down on a coffee table. She was brought back to reality by his barely audible sad voice,

"I had another bad dream…"

She slowly took in what he said but couldn't reply out of pure shock. His voice wasn't what she was expecting, it was that of a child not a mass murdering hollow. He slowly stripped down to his just his hakama, surprisingly Orihime noticed he didn't have a hollow hole, and crawled onto the bed and under the covers. He curled up next to her and she stiffened out of a mix of fear and the unfamiliar feeling of someone else being in her bed with her. Orihime was completely taken back by his seemingly innocent actions.

When she finally found her lost voice, she said the first thing that came to her,

"B-bad dream? What kind of dream?"

The boy looked up at her and started, "I was walking with a woman by a river in the rain. The lady was smiling at me and was holding an umbrella over me so I wouldn't get wet… She was so beautiful, just like you. She always seems to have a smile on her face. I was holding her hand and was so happy just by being with her. It always starts out happy but…"

He started to cry and Orihime was about to tell him he didn't have to keep going and finish but found herself completely hypnotized by him. Through the tears trickling down his cheeks he continued,

"Then I saw a girl about to fall into the river and I ran after her to save her. I tried so hard to grab her but she just seemed to disappear under my grasp. I got knocked out and everything seemed to go black. I thought the dream was over when I woke up but then I felt something covering my body. I tried to get up to see where I was but found that it was her on top of me and that she was… she was…"

At this he went silent but Orihime already knew the end of the story. She knew what he was about to say because Tatsuki had told it to her once though never in this vivid detail.

_So this is really Ichigo? None of this makes sense but…_

Even though she was going through her own inner conflict, she did the only thing she knew to do and wrapped her arms around him and comforted him in her best motherly attempt. In a soothing voice she started,

"Shh. It's okay. Don't worry it's just a dream sweetie."

He buried his head in her chest as she petted his hair slowly. After a while of sobbing silently the boy mumbled a question,

"Will you ever leave me?"

Orihime at that moment felt like the worst person in the world for ever thinking that the small child in front of her was a disturbing killer. All she had thought about was all the similarities between him and a hollow when she should've been thinking that he was just a kid, a small frightened child. Although she didn't know all of the answers to the questions she had been thinking of earlier, and she had even more questions now, who this little boy was or what she was to him in this world, she did know without a shred of doubt her answer,

"I will never leave you."

Her voice was soft from her lack of energy but reassuring and firm as well. The boy seemed to relax a little and started to drift off. Orihime kept slowly running her hand through his hair to help him relax when he said in a half asleep voice,

"You promise?"

Orihime involuntarily felt a lump in her throat and tried hard not to cry. Her mind couldn't comprehend the little boys words,

_Do I promise? How could anyone say ever say no to this kid. _

She thought back to when Sora died and how lonely she felt. Sure Tatsuki had been there for her most of the time and she had a lot of great friends but there had always been a hole in her heart since he died. Like a piece of herself was gone, a part of heart that was gone for all eternity. After a moment of silence she allowed a few silent tears to run down her face as she replied softly,

"I promise."

He snuggled closer into her hold and relaxed into a deep sleep. Something about seeing the small boy so sad and frightened had struck her heart.

The feeling was so enormous she imagined it was how someone might feel if they were hit by a truck.

Or the way the bomb diffuser feels in the movies when he and the world are only seconds away from destruction and he has to choose between the blue and red wire.

Or…

Or…

_Or maybe this is how the anxiety of a mother's love for her child feels like…_

In that moment of thought she knew that she would fight to the very ends of the earth to keep that promise. She tightened her hold on the boy and slowly drifted back into darkness with absolute certainty that she had a purpose for being in this new world.

_**-Scene Shift-**_

"That's absurd. Why would the Shinigami try to invade Hueco Mundo? They have no motivation to do so right now with their wounded ranks and even if they did want to they would know it would be a suicide mission."

Szayel finally finished.

Ichigo scowled, "I'm telling you they're coming and we need to prepare for the worse, damn it!"

The table began to tense up and Nel sighed, "Perhaps you should tell us what gave you this notion. Then maybe we could understand your reasoning."

Hallibel spoke up, "At the very least tell us when you expect this 'invasion' to occur."

The Espada women nodded toward Ichigo,

"Well when we, Orihime and I, met with those Shinigami one of them told me… gave me reason to believe that they might try to kill Orihime. Since an assassination attempt is basically out of the question I figured that they would try to just rush us, you know? Like some kind of way to destroy our leadership or something and hope our ranks would fall apart."

Ichigo received different stares from a few Espada, some skeptical, some worried, and some, just Ulquiorra, annoyed,

"Wars are not powered on nor are critical tactical decision based upon 'hope', as you put it. Your overreacting. There is no possible or conceivable way for the Shinigami to even enter Las Noches undetected and even if they were to somehow get past our security measures then they would have to face a numerous amount of Arrancar before ever being able to reach Inoue-sama as her room is in the middle of Las Noches and all of the Espada's are surrounding it accordingly."

Ichigo seemed to relax a little, until Grimmjow spoke up in an un of character serious voice,

"Yeah, I kind of been feeling like they were going to attack. I think they somehow know of Inoue-sama's weakened condition. It just easier to attack your prey when they are weak and least expect it. I agree with Kurosaki."

At this Zommari narrowed his eyes,

"You speak as if these Shinigami scum have eyes and ears in the heart of Las Noches."

Grimmjow narrowed his piercing blue eyes,

"All I know is when you smell blood you attack. It's what I'd do."

Szayel, seeing the tension between the 6th and 7th Espada members tried to change the subject,

"At the very least perhaps we should have extra guards around Inoue-sama's room for any unforeseen variables. Just in case."

Everyone seemed to agree with this and even Ulquiorra gave a nod. It wasn't as if they were short on troops, in fact that was something of a commodity they had in Las Noches. Ichigo stood up and addressed them,

"Alright then it's settled, we won't prepare for a Shinigami invasion but we will provide extra guards for Orihime until she is fully healed. Agreed?"

Everyone nodded their approval,

"Ok well I guess we need to pick who's going to guard her. Any suggestions?"

Stark for once picked his head off the table and said quickly, "I'll do it."

Everyone seemed to give him an odd look. Halibel was the first to question him,

"Why do you want this so bad?"

Stark grinned, "Are you kiddin' me? Cause it'll allow me to relax and stay in Las Noches instead of having to do missions in the real world that require actual effort."

Nel turned deathly serious,

"You can't be too relaxed Stark, you have to protect Orihime-sama at all cost. And you can't be sleeping on the job, you bum."

Stark frowned slightly but nodded,

"I can't argue that I'm not a bum but I do know the severity of the situation Nel. Don't worry, I don't want anything to happen to Inoue-sama as much as you all do."

Ichigo stared at Stark in an almost threatening stance,

"Are you sure your up to the task Stark? Cause if anything happens…"

Stark gave a small chuckle,

"Ichigo relax, I won't let anything happen to her. I give you my word."

Ichigo nodded knowing that Stark was more than capable of holding his own against just about anything the Soul Society could throw at them,

"Alright, thank you Stark. Everyone will continue their routines and planned missions as normal. Until Orihime is back to 100% I think it's best to have Ulquiorra, Halibel, and Nel lead and plan the missions to the real world or any strategic offensive, Me, Chad, and Uryuu recruit out in Hueco Mundo while the rest of you stay here at Las Noches and maintain our defenses. Sound good?"

Nel looked somewhat surprised, "Your not going to stay her with Orihime-sama?"

Ichigo sighed, "Well I want to but…"

Ulquiorra cut in in his trademark toneless voice,

"It would be foolish to have Grimmjow lead the recruiting party when there is still a handful of Vasto Lorde that we have yet to persuade that could easily kill them."

Grimmjow snorted but made no comment knowing all to well that as much as it hurt his pride to say it, Ulquiorra is right. Szayel started,

"Not to worry Nelliel, I will keep an eye on her and make it a point to be extra careful about her amnesic effects. I'm uncertain that Inoue-sama will even be awake in the next few days so there is a chance that Ichigo will be back before she wakes up."

Nel nodded still unsure if it was a wise choice to leave Orihime with Szayel.

Ulquiorra agreed emotionlessly, "That sounds like the most logical plan in our current situation."

The others seem to agree and nodded.

"Then this meeting is over."

_**-Scene Shift-**_

Hisagi couldn't believe it. He had heard of Orihime Inoue's powers, hell he had researched them before he went on this mission, but to see them in person and to experience it was an entirely different matter. In those few seconds between when Rangiku's eyes rolled in the back of her head and when the female Arrancar surrounding him started to close in, he thought they were done. It seemed like it was a blur, he remembered collapsing and turning his head to see Ichigo thrown to the wall then it was like he was encompassed in warmth. As he thought about it he came to the conclusion it couldn't accurately be described what it was like being healed, or better, rejected away. It felt close to death but lacked the bitter pain that normally came with it. In that golden shield it was hard to differentiate between life and death, what was real and not.

_It's indescribable, that's all there is to it._

"Uh, where am I?"

Finally shaken out of his train of thought, Hisagi saw Rangiku wake from the opposite end of the couch.

"You, we are in a holding cell but it seems as if we no longer have any restraints, well except for these."

He pointed to his reiatsu collar. She sat up fully and looked down at her hands. She opened them then closed them slowly and repeatedly. Hisagi new what she was experiencing, it had happened to him when he woke up as well.

"Like you're a new person right?"

Rangiku just nodded not taking her eyes away from hand as the other one touched her throat.

"Why?"

Hisagi gave her a curious look, "Why what?"

Rangiku looked up, "Why'd she save us?"

Hisagi sighed unsure of the reason,

"Maybe to try to get information, maybe to use us as bargaining chips, maybe to kill us later who knows."

Rangiku couldn't help but flinch at the last possibility. She knew when she was asked to do this mission that there was a chance she would be killed but the reward had been to high. Rangiku looked at him seriously,

"They won't send a rescue squad."

Hisagi chuckled, "Yeah I know it was a risky mission to begin with and only had a slim chance of success. Why'd we do this again?"

Rangiku's face turned dark and said quietly,

"For Momo, Renji, and Toshiro."

Hisagi mentally punched himself for saying that. He didn't literally mean why they were here, he just wanted to lighten the gloominess. He sighed finally accepting defeat,

"If only we hadn't gotten caught we might have been able to end the war quickly, especially with Inoue in the condition she's in. It was my fault for not being more observant and tripping the alarm. Sorry…"

Rangiku smiled for once and leaned onto Hisagi,

"Baka, I would've hit the alarm if you didn't, it's not like our specialty is stealth."

He just ignored her feeling guilty as sat back and grabbed a pillow from the other side of the couch,

"Besides, it not as if it was a complete failure."

Hisagi looked up from the uninteresting piece of tile he was staring at,

"Oh yeah, how's that?"

Rangiku smiled deviously as she put the pillow in his lap and laid her head down,

"Cause I delivered one of the 'packages' successfully. Hisagi looked stunned and looked down at her,

"What? How? I thought we destroyed them before we were caught?"

Rangiku turned over so her face was against his stomach,

"Except for the one I hid in my mouth."

Realization suddenly dawned on Hisagi and he smiled,

"Clever girl."

"Yeah I get that a lot."

_**-Chapter End-**_

I'm excited about this story and hope you all are too. Please wait for next chapter for explanation of mini, albino Ichigo as it will be thoroughly explained. I'm hoping to make this at least 20 chapters long, maybe more. If your wondering about the odd little _**-Scene Shift-'s **_it's because for some reason i can't make a line break to differentiate between scenes... Please leave a Review if you see a grammatical error as I'm not all that good at English lol. Well thanks for reading, please **REVIEW, **and until next time...

**PeAcE OuT**


	8. Desperation

Author notes at bottom, glad to back

Enjoy and remember Read and Review please!

Thank You

* * *

Chapter 7- Desperation

_How long has it been? _

_How long has it been since I've been this excited? _

The superhuman of a Vice-Captain known as Nemu Kurotsuchi quickly computed her question as soon as it had popped in her head.

_Never._

She used her Shunpo ability to it's fullest extent as she blurred by shinigami in the Seireitei toward her destination. The normally emotionless shinigami allowed a small smile to form on her face as she failed miserably at hiding her schoolgirl giddiness at finally being able to prove herself to her father.

_Mayuri-sama will be very pleased with my work this time. Perhaps he may even congratulate me… or call me by my name without adding a vulgarity to it. Either would be preferable._

It had been only 10 minutes ago she had been sitting in the 12th Division communications room diligently watching the several computer screens when the device she had built started to send back an enormous amount of data indicating the mission, codenamed 'Vengeance' was a success. Whether or not both of the Vice-Captains from the 10th and 9th divisions were still alive was unclear. That, however, was unimportant at the moment as Nemu reached the 1st division barracks. As she stepped toward the large double doors of the meeting room she couldn't help but think of the human saying she had picked up from Rukia,

_It's my time to shine._

The Head Captain of the Gotei 13 had grown impatient of the silence of the mission he had given the crazed scientist to bring an end to their war in one swift move. A mission that the man in question said would be child's play for someone of his genius. "It has been over a week and we have received no word from either Vice-Captain nor from your miracle weapon. You said you would have results in a week captain."

The head of the 12th anxiously tried to stall for time, "Head Captain these devices need an indeterminable amount of time to adjust in their environment before being able to send and receive information and…"

Yamamoto had heard enough, "Your plan failed Captain Kurotsuchi, whether because of your faulty device or the plan itself, you sent two of our strongest Vice-Captains on a suicide mission!"

His voice could be heard booming throughout the large meeting room as the captains in attendance stood in complete silence. The captain of the 12th face grew dark as he defended his science,

"My plans do not 'fail', and my devices are not 'faulty'. Those two imbeciles simply failed to accomplish their mission!"

Before Yamamoto could answer Soi Fon spoke with malice laced in her voice,

"Those two Vice-Captains were fine soldiers but if you would have allowed my Stealth Force to handle the administration of the devices then we could have avoided this!"

"Your pathetic, incompetent soldiers would have done much worse then this I assure you. They would have allowed the enemy to use my creations against us. The only person qualified to administer the devices is Nemu and the only reason I didn't send her is because it was a suicide mission!"

Soi Fon slowly allowed her reiatsu to raise in anger. The mad scientist narrowed his eyes and put a hand on his sword in an attempt to intimidate her but before anyone could try to diffuse the situation the Stealth Force commander had the cold steel of her blade against his throat.

"Insult my troops again and you will no longer be in existence you sick bastard."

Kyoraku and Ukitake were about to intervene when the doors opened to show an excited Nemu. Yamamoto, already frustrated with his captains said in his booming voice with authority,

"If you do not have a good reason for this interruption you'll be punished severely!"

Nemu kneeled respectfully, "My apologies Head Captain but approximately 12 minutes ago we started to receive information back from Project Vengeance."

Everyone eyes widened slightly and Kurotsuchi turned toward her, slightly cutting himself on Soi Fon's sword, and said,

"Did you initiate the bio-programs?"

Nemu showed the smallest sign of fear, "Well only one out of the three is sending back information so we can assume that it was the only one that was successfully assimilated into the host."

Kurotsuchi looked as if he was about to explode and pushed a stunned Soi Fon backwards and started toward his subordinate. Just as Nemu braced for the beating that was sure to come, he stopped his rampage and asked,

"Which one?"

Nemu looked up quickly, "RDC-1, sir."

He smiled and turned to his fellow captains as Kenpachi asked the question everyone else was thinking,

"What the hell does all that mean freakshow? Did it work or didn't it?"

The deranged scientist smiled, "Not completely you idiotic Neanderthal, but we now have options to choose from."

Yamamoto finally getting a handle on the situation,

"Please enlighten the rest of us captain."

"Orihime Inoue will not be able to be controlled as previously hoped and we will also not be able to kill her"

Everyone showed their defeat on their face, no one was angry, just hopeless, as the scientist continued,

"but she will be without her powers for approximately 12 hours."

Yamamoto looked surprised and the other captains were a mix between despair and rejuvenated hope,

"When?"

"Whenever we choose to activate it, I would suggest waiting until just before we invaded Hueco Mundo. With luck, even if were unable to defeat many of the Espada we may be able to capture her before she regains her powers."

Everyone realized what he said and Ukitake spoke,

"If we could capture her then we could end the war for good but we'd need to distract their main forces away from her and even then whoever we send to recover her would surely encounter some guards, most likely Espada, so it's going to have to be a captain."

All at once it seemed everyone began to see this as possible, as if there was a way to defeat the unstoppable and seemingly invincible Orihime Inoue and the once dull lifeless eyes brighten with a new spark. Yamamoto spoke in his booming voice,

"We begin invasion plans immediately!"

* * *

Orihime slowly blinked her eyes completely expecting to be in her room back home in her apartment. Surely everything she had experienced has been a dream. As soon as her eyes completely opened and dilated she knew it wasn't a dream as she stared into a head full of white unruly hair. Despite everything she couldn't help but smile looking at the small child sleeping contently next to her.

"I'm surprised you weren't frightened by him with your amnesia and all."

Orihime nearly the boy up with her excited gasp as she turned to the source of the voice,

"Stark, you scared me! What are you doing here?"

He sighed before smirking and putting both of his palms up and scrunching his shoulders,

" I'm not really sure. Your boyfriend said something about you being in danger and the shinigami invading or something along those lines either way it sounded like I wasn't going to get a lot of rest so I volunteered to be your personal guard. It's been nice so far, you've been out for a day and a half."

Orihime blushed at Ichigo being called her boyfriend but didn't say anything about it and they sat in silence for a while. She thought about his last comment,

_I was out for a day, that's understandable I guess since I was so depleted of energy but what about the little Ichigo? Has he been asleep the whole time? _

She put the thought aside then finally remembered what he had said,

"I was actually, frightened by him I mean, but he's just so innocent and pure I was mesmerized by him. Besides he had a bad dream, someone had to comfort him."

Stark smiled from his seat made of several pillows he had brought in from his room,

"You really haven't changed as much as the others said. That's what you did before and it seems as though your still your 'old' self. I have heard though you don't have any memories before attaining your powers?"

He proposed the last part as a question, "Well yeah, not exactly but kinda."

Stark chuckled, "Ok, fair enough. Well I know you are probably curious about the kid there."

He gestured to the miniature Ichigo.

Orihime couldn't deny her curiosity, "Yes, actually I have an idea but I'm not for certain. Ichigo in my memories was a Vizard and had an inner hollow so is he Ichigo's 'zanpakuto', umm so to speak. You know like Lilinette is to you?"

Stark sat up fully erect and stared at her,

"You definitely hit that nail on the head. Just as intelligent as ever."

She blushed, "Well I still don't know why he's a child or so kind and innocent. According to the Ichigo in my memories he was identical to him in age and was, well, a psychopath."

Stark yawned, "Well I don't know a terrible amount about Vizards but an Arrancar's zanpakuto, and therefore their resurrection, always reflect their deepest emotion that was the cause of them becoming a hollow. An example is Lilinette to me. Although I don't remember much before becoming an Arrancar and absolutely nothing before becoming a hollow, I do know that I was terribly lonely. I've always assumed she must be a subconscious copy of someone I lost in my life that cause my loneliness."

He stopped looking over at the door as his other half walked in the door. Instead of being her normal obnoxious self she walked up to Stark and hugged him playfully and joined him on his mountain of pillows. She'd obviously heard the conversation and was showing her rare emotional side. Orihime smiled at the small girl who in turn uncharacteristically blushed and said,

"Yeah I may give Stark a hard time sometimes"

Stark cut in smiling, "Most of the time"

"Ok, most of the time but we really are inseparable. He's my other half, literally. I am Stark as much as he's Lilinette, we are one in the same. We split into two souls so we'd never be lonely again."

At this the petite girl smiled up at Stark. Orihime's heart fluttered as she looked between the two,

"That's incredible, is that how… what is little Ichigo's name?"

Lilinette laughed,

"Well only Ichigo knows his name but you call him Shiro cause he's snow white."

Orihime chuckled quietly, "Ok well is Shiro and Ichigo connected and have a relationship like you and Stark?"

Lilinette immediately quit laughing and Stark opened his sleepy eyes,

"Umm well not exactly."

The redhead looked surprised, "Oh, well what's different?"

Without anyone noticing Shiro had woken up and he snuggled closer to Orihime as he said,

"Cause he hates me."

* * *

Grimmjow was capable of many things, extreme lack of concern for others, brutally beating someone into a bloody pulp, killing countless enemies without a sweat, but at the moment he was incapable of following a direct order from his creator with only infuriated him more. He received little resistance from Halibel's fraccion who were guarding the cell as he passed through the door. Looking at the two surprised shinigami in disgust and contempt.

"So you're the pathetic scum that tried to kill Inoue-sama."

Hisagi looked at Rangiku unsure of what to do. The fiery strawberry blond hardened her look and stood defiantly,

"That's right, Arrancar."

She spit the last word out as if it were a bug that needed to be squashed. Grimmjow narrowed his eyes as he approached the shinigami and stopped only when he was a few inches away from her face. She matched him and continued,

"My only regret is I'm not going to be the one who's going to kill her."

She smiled darkly, "Oh wouldn't that be a sight. A hole in her chest so she'd match her freak army of hollow."

Grimmjow's rage grew with every second until finally he turned around and walked through the door. Before the shinigami could question his random appearance he reappeared and carrying something.

Hisagi's eyes grew wide, "Our zanpakuto!"

Grimmjow face was completely serious and lacked his usually insane grin,

"Follow me and don't try anything stupid."

Rangiku and Hisagi looked at each other before following him. Apache, Mila Rose, and Sun-Sun were completely caught off guard,

"Grimmjow what the hell do you think your doing? Inoue-sama said"

Grimmjow interrupted them angrily, "No Kurosaki gave the order to detain them, not Inoue-sama!"

He knew this wasn't completely true but he didn't care,

"I'm the highest ranking Espada in Las Noches right now besides Stark who is guarding Inoue-sama, so that makes me King. I swear if you interfere I'll kill all three of you, understood?"

He allowed his reiatsu to build and start to suffocate them. They could only nod their heads slightly as he continued forward with the two prisoners.

* * *

Under the dome of Las Noches Grimmjow threw the prisoners into the dirt beside their swords. Hisagi got to his feet with his sword,

"Now what? Why did you bring us out here?"

Grimmjow allowed his trademark insanity to build as he grinned,

"Because I was told you two tried to kill the only person I care about. The person who had the power to kill me when I was a mindless hollow and didn't. Who gave me a second chance, hell she gave the order not to harm our 'shinigami guests' as she put it but I don't care. She's not in her right mind right now so I'm going to do what Kurosaki should've done."

He pulled out a device with a few buttons and pressed a couple and the two shinigami's collars fell to the ground.

"Time to kill you two weaklings."

Immediately Rangiku and Hisagi readied themselves while Grimmjow left both hands in his pocket and sonidoed next to Hisagi. Said shinigami tried to slash the Espada but Grimmjow dodged easily before sending him flying into a pillar with a kick to the abdomen. He looked over at Rangiku and said,

"It's going to be quite a sight to see you with a hole in your chest so you can look like the freaks you hate so god damn much!"

* * *

A/N: I know short chapter but it's all good, more is coming. I know it's been a while since my last update but I lost someone very close to me, someone I cared deeply about and ever since then I just cant seem to be able to write…

I'm working on it though and hopefully I can get back on track soon.

Please review and thank you so much for reading, hoped you enjoyed it

PeAcE OuT


	9. Wake Up

Chapter 8- Wake Up

Stark and Lilinette had long since left allowing Orihime and Shiro to speak privately. Orihime was sitting in her bed upright with her back against the headboard with Shiro sitting beside her, nervously twiddling his thumbs. Orihime pondered on how to pose her question but after several minutes of silence decided to just ask,

"Umm, Shiro why do you think Ichigo hates you?"

Shiro looked at her almost fearful, "What Starrk-sama said is true isn't it? You lost all your memories haven't you?"

Orihime seeing the boys spirit spiraling downward rather quickly decided to act a little more upbeat and shrugged playfully,

"That's right, but that doesn't change anything. I'm still me, I just don't remember some things is all. That's why I need your help to get me better again. Can you help me Shiro?"

Shiro looked at her, searching her eyes for any deceit. After deciding she was genuine he smiled,

"Don't worry, I'll help you regain your memories Oka-san!"

Shiro immediately slapped his hand over his mouth and looked down. Shiro began to fumble his words in embarrassment and shame,

"I'm sorry Inoue-sama, I don't know why I…"

Orihime was stunned at first but then laughed and pulled the boy closer to her,

"It's ok Shiro-chan, you can call me that if you want. I don't mind at all."

Shiro strained to look up at Orihime, "But that's why Ichigo-sama hates me, because I'm weak and give in to being a child. He says that I'm the reason he couldn't stay and protect his family. I can't… I have to be strong so that I won't fail him again. I-I…"

Orihime put a finger over the boys mouth,

"Shiro your not responsible for why Ichigo can't go back or why he couldn't stay with his family. He knew what the consequences could be when became a shinigami the way that he did. This isn't your fault Shiro. Ichigo just has trouble with some things in his past. You're a very strong and determined boy."

Shiro eyes were glues to Orihime's, "But what if I do fail… What if I make Ichigo-sama hate me even more?"

Orihime thought for a moment,

"Even though I'm a bit shy to tell anyone else this, Ichigo loves me very much and if it came down to it, he would probably fight the entire Soul Society if it meant saving me."

Shiro nodded knowing that it was true, though not sure what this had to do with him,

"How about this, I want you to promise me that you'll protect me from anything ok? This way your protecting what's most precious to Ichigo and can prove yourself to him."

Shiro looked at Orihime wide eyed, "You would trust me to protect you?"

Orihime smiled, "I herby entrust you with my life. I know you won't let me down."

Shiro smiled and hugged her tightly, "Thank you Oka-san, I love you."

Orihime could stop the big smile that started to grow, "I love you too Shiro."

* * *

Starrk looked over at Lilinette who was a little down cast,

"I wish Inoue-sama had her memories back… Now Shiro is going to have to re-explain everything all over again."

Starrk smirked at her very out of character sympathy toward Shiro,

"Seems like you really care about what happens to Shiro."

Lilinette looked shocked for a moment,

"As if! I just know he'll be all sad and not want to do anything and be boring. It's no fun to pick on someone who is already sad. I mean, he's just an annoying friend anyways, it's not like I like him or anything…"

Her older counterpart just chuckled as she tried to hide her blush. Starrk and Lilinette walked down the hall continuing with their usual antics,

"Come on Starrk let's go spar or hollow hunting or something! I'm bored"

Starrk looked at her like she was insane and replied while he put his hands behind his head and yawned,

"Why in the world would I want to do that? Sounds like way to much effort. How about we go take a nap in the dome. Haven't had a nice warm sun nap in a while."

Lilinette sighed, "Oh come on! Your so lazy! One sparring match please! I want to get better at fighting."

Starrk looked at her curiously, "Why?"

Lilinette shrugged, "I don't know, I want to make sure I'm strong enough to be able to hold my own."

Starrk gave a small laugh,

"When exactly are you on your own? I'm always within at least 100 meters of you at all times plus when we use our resurrection we're one of the strongest beings in all three of the worlds."

Lilinette sighed, "Ok…"

Starrk sighed seeing his defeat in her sad eyes, "Fine, we'll spar."

"Yes!"

"But afterwards I don't want to hear anything about me being lazy and you can't wake me up for a week got it?"

Lilinette smiled victoriously, "Deal."

In her excitement Lilinette decided to use Sonido and blast to the dome.

Starrk smirked, "Well guess I better catch up and get this over with."

* * *

Grimmjow honestly couldn't remember the last time he was this bored. These two were pathetic. Every move was so slow and he was able to counter with relative ease. That was until the unleashed their zanpakuto. It wasn't that they were strong enough to defeat him, he had yet to use his own sword but he could see them planning something.

_They must be trying to figure out a way to escape instead fighting me. Cowards, guess I'll have to finish this quickly. _

"What's wrong? Are you done already? I haven't even warmed up yet!"

Rangiku was bleeding profusely and was shaking to as she stood her ground. Hisagi on the other hand was standing with almost no sign of weakness, though he was bleeding more then Rangiku and he a broken arm.

"Quiet Arrancar!"

Hisagi looked over at Rangiku and nodded his head slightly, "Growl, Haineko!"

The cloud surrounds Grimmjow but doesn't attack as he had thought. Grimmjow sighed in frustration,

"What makes you think that a cloud of dust will help you?"

Only hearing a almost inaudible muttering the Sexta punches a hole in the cloud, "What the hell are you two doing?"

" Hadou 88, Hiryugekizokushintenraiho!"

Grimmjow turned around too late as Hisagi blast him across the dome with a huge electric beam of energy. Hisagi, breathing heavily, collapsed and was caught by Rangiku.

"I didn't know you could do such a high level of Kido! That was amazing!"

Hisagi shrugged, "Yeah well if it wasn't for that distraction I couldn't have said the chant correctly. Now lets get the hell out of here while he's down."

Rangiku nods here head and heads for a door leading to the endless corridors of Las Noches but as soon as she gets there an Arrancar is waiting for her. A pint sized one.

"What the hell are you two doing out of your cell!"

Lilinette grabs her zanpakuto ready to fight and Rangiku begins to panic. "What do I do…"

* * *

Grimmjow slowly gets up out of the crater he was blasted into, "Won't lie, wasn't expecting that…"

Looking down at his chest he touches the severely burned skin and winces slightly.

"Damn, that was pretty powerful, better end this now before the damage the palace."

Launching himself out of the crater he speeds to where he can feel their weak reiatsu. Finally making it there Grimmjow sees Rangiku and Hisagi back against a wall and that Rangiku has taken Lilinette hostage.

"Fucking cowards!"

"Shut up hollow filth! Release us or she dies!"

Lilinette looks more irritated then frightened as Rangiku digs the cold steel of her sword into her throat,

"Damn it Grimmjow why the hell did you let them out!"

Grimmjow shrugged, "I was just having some fun until you came, you little shit. Now what are we going to do?"

Hisagi narrows his eyes as he leans up against the wall,

"I see that Kido harmed you a bit."

Grimmjow smirked, "Just a bit. Didn't think you had it in you but I was wrong. I'll get you back though, don't worry."

Rangiku was beginning to grow angry, "I will kill her, do you understand?"

She presses the sword even more and Lilinette lets out a strangled cry as blood begin to seep down her neck.

"I do."

Rangiku and Hisagi look toward the door as Starrk walks out,

" And what you must understand is that if you harm her at all, I will rip you limb from limb and Lilinette will be resurrected by Inoue-sama. Essentially you will accomplish nothing. You will not die as heroes, you will not die with honor, just as 2 shinigami who attempted to kill a child. Nothing more."

Grimmjow grunted as he narrowed his eyes at Starrk, "Why aren't you and her with Inoue-sama?"

Starrk shrugged carelessly,

"We were going to spar for a little while. After all the only threat to her at the moment was these two and they _had _been locked up. The question is what were you doing?"

"None of your damn business!"

Rangiku and Hisagi saw that their threat held little to no power over the two Espada and Rangiku looked to Hisagi,

"What should be do?"

He looked around for some kind of exit but found none, "I don't know. Would you rather die with a sword in your hand or in a cell rotting?"

Rangiku smirked, "You have a point, you think you have enough energy to send off another one of those spells?"

Hisagi looked sick just at the mention of it, "Maybe, I'll give it a try."

As he began to chant Rangiku heard Lilinette start to laugh, "You two are idiots. You think some stupid spell can stop Starrk?"

Rangiku put her mouth by the girl's ear, "It worked on that blue haired freak."

Lilinette could help but smirk, "Do you know what rank he is? He's the Sexta. He's only the sixth strongest Espada."

Hisagi continued to chant and his reiatsu began to raise and Starrk noticed, "What's he doing?"

Rangiku curiously asked, "So what?"

Lilinette laughed, "Starrk is Tereca and the gap in their power you couldn't even began to fathom."

Rangiku looked up to see Starrk looking suspiciously at Hisagi.

_It won't work! _

"Hisagi don't!"

But it was too late, "Hado 88, Hiryugekizokushintenraiho!"

Hisagi put everything he had into it and it was more powerful then before. As it began to rush forward Rangiku could tell she had to go with it now or die with no honor. So she pushed Lilinette forward slightly before impaling her through her heart through her back. The blast rushed toward Starrk but his eyes were wide as he focused on Lilinette. Rangiku cried out while the sword was still inside of Lilinette,

"Growl, Haineko!"

The sword burst into a dust cloud and nearly severed Lilinette into two.

"Lilinette! No!"

The blast finally was fully unleashed and came toward the 3rd Espada at unparalleled speed. Starrk put a hand forward and stopped the blast with ease. It began to burn his hand but he continued to push forward and finally threw it to the side carelessly allowing it to collide with a pillar and destroying it.

"No… way… How…"

Hisagi couldn't believe his eyes.

"With one hand? No…"

Rangiku was busy fending off a very angry Grimmjow and didn't notice Starrk appear beside her. With a sickening crunch of her sternum shattering, the punch made her soar through the air until she finally hit the wall of the dome with a loud thud. Hisagi was barely conscious but heard Starrk's final words, "Do with them how you like Grimmjow, just make it quick. I'm taking Lilinette to Inoue-sama."

Grimmjow grinned, "With pleasure."

Starrk picked up what remained of Lilientte and carried her gently. Lilienette, barely conscious because of her high level of reiatsu, smiled,

"I guess I do need you around."

Starrk smirked, "Just be quiet and rest, you'll be back to bugging me in no time."

She closed her eyes and died and Starrk, even knowing she would be revived momentarily, shed a silent tear.

* * *

Orihime and Shiro decided they were hungry and had found the large Espada lunch room. She would have thought that there would've at least been one person in there but there was none. Shiro looked up at her,

"So what are we going to eat?"

Orihime put a finger to her in thought, "I don't know, how about I make my special recipe burritos!"

Shiro looked curiously, "Burritos?"

"Yeah Chad-kun showed me how to make them. They're from his home country in Mexico."

Shiro just nodded confused at what or where exactly Mexico was.

"Here just sit down and I'll make some for you. Or you can help me if you want"

Shiro nodded happily and began to help Orihime get ingredients out. After a short time Orihime had whipped up her infamous bean paste and pickle burritos. Surprisingly Shiro didn't spit the odd food combination out which made Orihime happily hum a song as they ate. Shiro finished and contently laid his head down on the table.

Orihime looked curiously over at the boy, "Are you sick?"

He popped back up smiling, "Nope! They were really good. Do we have any more?"

Orihime smiled, "How about we make some more and go have a picnic under the dome? Does that sound fun?"

Shiro nodded enthusiastically, "Alright well help me make some more!"

* * *

Orihime and Shiro were laughing and joking while they walked down the hall. Orihime was carrying a picnic basket and Shiro was carrying a blanket to sit on. The Queen of Las Noches couldn't help but feel good about today. Nothing bad had happened, she had helped someone, and she was feeling a lot more energetic, though she was a bit frustrated she couldn't communicate with her Shun Shun Rikka yet. They had only been walking down the hall for a few minutes when they saw the serious and pained face of the 3rd Espada. Starrk had only made it a few hundred meters into the hall when Orihime and Shiro found him with a mortally wounded Lilinette.

"What happened!"

Starrk laid Lilinette down gently as Orihime set to work on her.

"Grimmjow was toying with those two shinigami…"

"Rangiku and Hisagi?"

"Umm, yeah. And Lilinette was taken hostage. They launched a surprise attack and killed Lilinette."

Orihime started to tear up as she watched the little girl slowly come back together and could only imagine the pain she went through being ripped apart.

"I said no one was to harm them!"

She became flustered as Starrk looked at her, "Why did Grimmjow do that?"

Starrk sighed, "I'm not sure Inoue-sama. Honestly as long as you can heal Lilinette I don't care. Why do these two shinigami matter so much to you anyways?"

Shiro watched as she began to cry and yelled, "I don't know! All these memories swirling around in my head! I don't know! Just let me heal Lilinette ok?"

Shiro clenched his fist tightly looking between Orihime and Lilinette. Before anyone could realize it, he flashed away toward the dome.

* * *

Upon arriving Shiro found Grimmjow playing with his almost dead prey. The Sexta looked over at him surprised,

"What the hell are you doing here shrimp?"

Without a word Shiro grabbed his sword with one hand and flew toward Grimmjow full force. "You're the one that let those shinigami out! The one had that made Inoue-sama cry!"

His reiatsu grew stronger and stronger as he spoke and Grimmjow could barely hold back his force.

"The one who allowed Lilinette to get killed!"

Grimmjow used all his power to smirk and push Shiro back slightly, "Yeah and what are you going to do small fry?"

Shiro narrowed his eyes and put his off hand on top of his sword, "Getsuga Tenshou!"

* * *

So I've been really busy writing a screenplay and working but I finally managed to write a new chapter! I'm hoping this can become a more regular thing lol

Hope you enjoyed reading!

P.S. - Am I making this too emotional with the Orihime - Shiro relationship? I like it but I want to hear what you think!

_**Please Review!**_

**PeAcE OuT**

**EDIT: Sorry about no spacing! I didn't realize it until Mosspaw reviewed the chapter and told me. Not sure what I was thinking, perhaps I wasn't :/ Anywho it is fixed now. Thanks for telling me and hope everyone enjoys the chapter!**


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